Deeper Into the Portal
by Sage Of Dreams
Summary: The mind of a ghost is an enigma, different with each subject. It is no more and no less fragile than the human mind, set to change as time passes. The insane mind of a ghost hunter will threaten Danny and all he knows, but Danny may be changing as well..
1. Chapter 1

**G'day everyone, and no I'm not Australian! The Sage of Dreams here with my very first ever story, and I worked my fingers to the bone to present it. Before we begin here, I'd like to take a relatively small chunk of your lives away to make a few things clear that are very important to me… SO DEAL WITH IT!**

**First, I believe I am posting in the Danny Phantom section, and there IS NO section labeled "OCs of Danny Phantom", right? Well I'm glad that's clear, because I intend to hold true to that. There is an OC in this story, and a large piece if the first few chapters will be dedicated to introducing him and describing his history because he is significant to the plot, but I assure you, this is a DANNY PHANTOM STORY. I really hate it when a story in the Danny Phantom section is nothing more than their own personal Mary-Sue half ghost, so beat the hell out of me if I ever wane from that path and put me in my place, thank you.**

**Also, please note that I am new here. I've read and read and read and at last decided to make my own story like so many here have, but I am still a beginner. I am extremely critical of my own work and tend to… umm, how to phrase it… loathe… every word I create. I crave constructive criticism, be it harsh or light, in order to improve, to keep writing and to keep the readers happy. In other words… Please READ AND REVIEW, and without further adieu, I hope you enjoy my creation, "Deeper Into the Portal."**

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Icy fog enshrouded the city of Amity Park, blocking out the starlight in the April sky. It was 9:00PM, Thursday night. Few lights shown throughout the city save the streetlights, the bright as day Fentonworks operation center sign, and one particular window on the side of an apartment building on the side of the city opposite of the Fentonworks building. Cracks along the cement walls, moss invading the foundation at the sidewalk, and broken windows gave most who passed by it decide to try somewhere else for even a temporary dwelling.

Within the dim pinnacle in the night, machines and papers littered the floor. The papers were blueprints, not far from the corresponding invention, all bore insignias of different ghost research associations. The inventor, a young man at his laptop, searched the vast realms of cyberspace, an elbow resting on his desk holding his chin.

"Hmmmm…" the young man grumbled as he skimmed through the web page dedicated to the research and development of paranormal investigation. He had seen the same schematic for an ectoplasm-powered laser nine times already on different sites, and each time it was more useless to him. All he was able to find on the net find was data about the technology used in the field and the organizations dedicated to the research. However, these things were far from what he was after, considering he already knew everything he needed to know about the tech.

"Dammit…" he grumbled in frustration. He stood up from the chair he had been searching in for hours, slamming his fist on the desk before his laptop. He stood about 6'1 and 17 years of age, and had brown hair, parted at the side so it covered part of his face, including one of his sharp green eyes. His eyes, however, had recently developed dark rings around them, in his sleepless efforts to locate the data he so desperately craved. His body was forever clad in casual and baggy clothing, usually a green T-shirt and long black shorts. Though he vaguely worried about getting out of shape from excessive idling at his desk, he was neither muscular nor skinny nor fat, just decently built. Regardless of his lack of mobility, his education in human health allowed him to maintain a healthy diet that kept him in shape.

He turned to abysmally observe his workspace, the living room of the third rate apartment he refused to call home. The only upside to the apartment was it was near his junior college, where he took engineering, algebra, physical education and science classes. He had crafted the inventions littering the room with the knowledge he had already accumulated from scouring the internet: a radar that locates ectoplasmic entities within fifteen kilometers, a device that emits a force field that repels ectoplasmic energy, a makeshift projectile weapon that fires bullets fused with ectoplasm, and various other unfinished projects. They had been considerably easier to make than he had thought at first; he was able to obtain the parts for them either from the dumps, the engineering lab or taking stuff apart, and then make shifting the design. The real problem had been acquiring the key component that bound them all together, ectoplasm. But there are methods to getting what you need in school, one of them being knowing the people who make a business of hacking into other business's mainframes.

He picked up the gun, actually an FN Pro 9 handgun configured inside and out and now looking like a too-bulky-for-practical-use futuristic laser, and considered shooting his laptop. 'Where the hell is the data? _Someone_ out there has to have real sightings of ghosts!' He looked over his shoulder and eyed his laptop. Anyone who looked into those eyes could see the instability in them. They held perpetually a deep sentiment of a tortured hatred few were meant to know. Only those who looked closely enough, however, could see his most prominent feature in those eyes, a deep, almost lateral scar along his face that ran from his eyebrow down over his right eye, and over the top half of his cheek. It was an every day reminder of his own worthlessness, the way he saw it, worth he worked tirelessly to redeem. That was why he his it behind the drape of hair. The anger rise in him again just thinking about it. He dropped the gun, slammed one hand on the desk and used the other to try his search again. Again, all it brought up were sites featuring stolen designs and clueless research groups. His hands ran through his hair hopelessly. 'This is ridiculous. _Everything_ can't be classified or complete bull shit…'

He looked down at the plasma weapon he had carelessly dropped. He had a hard time not remembering how this pathetic chapter of his life started every time he looked at it.

The young man once had a name. He once had an fairly normal life. He once had a small group of close friends who led also, for the most part, normal lives. He once lived in a quiet, forested, yet slightly sugar coated town along a river south of Amity Park. His parents had split up and abruptly moved to different counties, leaving him there soon after he turned 17. Living alone, he quickly became very responsible. He was also very cunning. He and his friends weren't exactly model students; they always got into mischief, fights, anything the useless police force would be responsible for, except for anything involving drugs. The young man was as clean as one could be, never once indulging in mind-altering substances. He was 'straight as an arrow', often said by his friends, earning him the nickname 'Straightedge', which he passively, yet proudly wore. But suffice to say, for the most part, they had never been caught thanks of his excellent skills in evading trouble. Though when they were, he managed to weasel them out by laying the blame elsewhere entirely or blaming a disliked peer. Of course, he often got them into trouble himself, usually caused by a condition that affected his vocabulary skills called 'smart ass'. He and his friends were unpopulars, but they were also the unpopulars that knew popularity meant virtually nothing. Yes, he and his friends didn't have life by the strings, but they had it by the reigns. They planned on going to the junior college in Amity Park and living together so they could help and support each other.

But it never worked out like that. His life took an unexpected turn that even he couldn't control. A turn that warped his world, his life, and eventually, his mind.

The young man once had a name, and it was Ayden Faust.

"Hey! Steven! Wait up!"

"WHAT?…" Steven stopped dead in the school hallway and turned defensively, "Oh, it's just you. What do you want, Ayden?" Steven replied shakily.

"Pffha-ha-ha-ha!" Ayden laughed at Steven's surprise. He'd always thought that being the messenger and lapdog of the local black market would be something to take with prudence, but Steven brought high-strung to a new level. Steven was a very big guy, 6'6 at 17 with an intimidating build, a broad face, angry eyes and hair that he allowed to do whatever it wanted. Ayden wasn't able to understand why someone like that would be so nervous on the job, even if it was an illegal one. He was a football player, a jerk at many times and little confrontational, but also kind of dim, therefore posing no threat to Ayden's well being as it did for others, "I just wanted to know if you had my response note from Clara."

"Sh-shut up! Not so loud, you-" Steven paused, "YOU had one? Mr. Straightedge himself ordered from Clara?" He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a paper clipped handful of folded note cards, and proceeded to look for one marked 'Ayden' in disbelief. He was shocked to find one.

Ayden grinned passively, "Couldn't help it. It's only a video game, anyway. I'm just too short on funds to buy it legit," Ayden swiped the card from Steven.

Ayden,

Thank you **so **much for your business. Your order will arrive in four to five days.

Clara

Directly below the signature was a kiss mark from an apparently very full set of lips coated in blood red lipstick.

The legend of Clara said to have originated from an unpopular girl of the very lowest social standing in the high school. However, one day in computers, she discovered she had a talent for hacking by ordering pizza for every class the next day, creating a huge smudge on the schools credibility. She then hacked her way to money, beauty and power. But to this end, many wondered why she would run a petty black market from within a high school under the false name 'Clara', and theorized that it was for sheer thrill. The kiss seal was her trademark.

Ayden eyed the thick wad of notes Steven stuffed back into his pocket, "Damn, the woman's gotta have some burly lips…"

"So it's said. I've never actually met her," Steven sighed, finally regaining his composure, "Good for business, though. So, you wanna give me a hand?"

"What do you need?"

"Just to move a crate for Ms. Entwood."

"The astronomy teacher?" Ayden grumbled, "That can't be light…"

"She said as much, so help me out."

The crate was ridiculously heavy. Ayden wondered why they didn't have a forklift for such a job, but guessed they didn't need one with Steven around. Ayden carried while walking backwards as Steven walked forward doing most of the work. It was times like that that reminded him why Steven was Clara's lackey: he was inhumanly strong.

Halfway there, Ayden began losing his grip, and Steven must have noticed, "Hey, need a break?"

"E-heh… I wouldn't mind," Ayden carefully set his side down, Steven doing the same. He shook his fingers a little, allowing the correct color to return to them from the uncomfortable purple. The design of his hands was for holding video game controllers and pencils. A crate full of telescopes was a little new.

Steven laughed at Ayden, rather cruelly, "Ha-hahaha! So, you can't handle this little crate?"

Ayden glared passively at him, "Please don't start with me Steven. You're hardly worth it."

"'Scuse me? You have a problem with me?" Steven stomped up in Ayden's face.

Ayden decided he was finished helping him carry the telescopes. He glared up into Steven's eyes with no fear in face or mind, "Well, at the top of the list, you make the testosterone concentration in the room to high for my comfort. Next, you're a melodramatic emotional turncoat between edgy and dickface, and last, for the self-proclaimed school superstar that claims to keep the football team winning, you're letting yourself go pretty bad."

"What do you mean melo-" Steven blinked, "Letting myself go? What are you talking about? I'm in the best shape of my life!"

"Is that so? I seem to recall you handling much bigger things by yourself showing off to the cheerleaders, fruitlessly I might add, and now you can't handle this thing yourself? Heh, best shape indeed."

"You little punk! Maybe if I beat your face in, you'll see what kinda shape I'm in!" Steven reared back and swung at Ayden's face.

Ayden swiftly glided out of the way behind the crate, hands resting behind his back, "And slow, too! But that won't prove a thing. How 'bout you prove me wrong on a field where we're even, Steven? The gambling field."

"Heh, I'm listening…."

"You take this crate to Entwood yourself. If you can make it all the way without a break, you win. But if you drop it, slip or stumble, you have to…" Ayden looked to the ceiling in thought, "confess your love to Christen Moore."

"Wh-what? I don't like that nasty… _thing_!" Steven knew Christen all too well. She was the most ugly, fat and obnoxious sophomore in the school. Among other girls, her popularity was no issue for her charismatic and fun loving nature, but when it came to boys, EVERY-SINGLE-ONE, she acted as flirtatious as possible. Most knew it was just a ruse to annoy, or in some cases, was paid to perform in such a manner as revenge and such. In any case, she was an expert in making men suffer.

"But you know as well as I do, she likes you," Ayden shot him an evil grin.

Steven swallowed. Ayden was right, he was her very favorite to pester. If Ayden forced Steven to say he likes her, there would be no end to the torture, not to mention the end of his social life. He looked to the crate of Entwood's telescopes. He knew he could do it. He knew he make it without dropping it if he had to. He'd lifted bigger things before just messing around. He smirked to Ayden, "Fine. But if I WIN, then you have to… run out onto the stage in the next school assembly and drop your pants in front of everybody! Hah!"

"Hmmm… Better me than you I guess. Deal," Ayden leaned against the lockers with folded arms to allow Steven to pass.

"Huh? Better you than… what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Well, get to it pal. Christen can't wait forever!" he made a mock longing face, quoting a phrase she'd once given Steven.

Steven grumbled and knelt down. He heaved the crate up and began to walk. And as he did, giving all his focus to the task at hand and making _absolutely_ sure he didn't lose the bet, Ayden placed his hands in his pockets and strolled down the hall in the other direction.

"Nimrod. No witness, null and void. I believe it was jocks like you that made that rule in this school," he said to himself uncaringly. Ayden found no challenge in outsmarting Steven's type.

When he turned a corner, he heard something that lifted his mood a thousand times. He heard a thud with a muffled crash at the same time.

Ayden grinned happily and looked back, "No way. Are you serious, he DROPPED IT? Witnessing, _witnessing!_" he dashed back and poked his head around the corner. He saw about the _last _thing he expected to see, "… What the-?"

A rapping on the door broke him from his trance. The distraction relieved him as it interrupted the flashback he had all too frequently, but a new frustration struck him, someone interrupting his work. He stood, kicking the gun under the desk, and proceeded to the door.

In the world we live in today, humans are given titles at birth. This young man discarded the one given to him, it had lost its meaning to him. But since one cannot ultimately function without such a title, he decided to use the name that came after his original. He had become known as Faust.

The door opened with a creak that hinted hinge failure. At Faust's door were two of very few people who he had ever considered friends, Amber and Greg. Amber was a short girl with mid-back length dirty blond hair, a very cute girl Faust had thought in his weaker moments, with wide yet graceful eyes. She was usually dressed in a pair of black jeans and a pink belly shirt that he and Greg had often found an odd combination. But she would simply smile and respond that it was what she liked, and if she cared what other people thought, she'd be dressing like all the other sluts in town, which neither of the boys particularly wanted to see on their good friend. Greg was a bit bigger than Faust standing at 6'3, seeming never to leave his gray overcoat. He was a little on the chubby side, but it only made him more intimidating. He was often mistaken for a goth, but was more than often the one in the group that had lifted the others spirits. He had slicked back black hair, kind of timid brown eyes and contrasted with a gruff face, only missing 5 o'clock shadow to make him look like a thug fresh from an action or mafia movie.

The two of them had had little contact with their friend they now had to call Faust for a while. They didn't like it, but if they didn't call him Faust, he wouldn't speak with them. Of course they knew why, but they had grown weary of their best friend's attitude. Up until now, they had been doing his deliveries for him from Clara, but they were determined to have a serious conversation with him today.

"Hi guys," Faust said flatly, trying hard to mask his frustration. They were doing delivering his orders after all, "Got my order?"

Greg pulled out a small brown box from his pocket. He held it in his hand away from Faust, looking at the package rather than him. Amber stared firmly into his eyes.

Faust sighed, "You wanna come in or something?"

"Once you wipe that dirty look off your face," Greg mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

Faust was a little surprised to find his face felt tense, flexed into a distasteful glare. He allowed his face to soften, "Sorry, I guess I'm just kind of…"

"Whatever A-…… Faust…" Amber trudged into his door and slumped on the couch, "We know how you've been the last… how long has it been?"

"Um… three months now. Amazing that you could live off the insurance money for this long, dude!" Greg found his way over to an armchair through all the devices scattering the floor.

"Hah!" Faust laughed dryly. He closed the door and made his way into the kitchen, which had a parlor opening to the living room, preventing any hindrance of communication, "Well, my parents left so fast, they left behind a lot of stuff behind. Stuff I guess they thought would be safe there until they decided to come 'visit' me. Good thing I schemed my way into putting it all in my name, I could live off this money for another year, at least."

"But why?" Amber asked hopefully, "The only time you really go out is to go to the J.C. or shopping, why not get a job and get some extra money? Then you could get a new house and live a lot nicer and-"

Faust interrupted her with a poisonous gaze. He knew where this was going, "Spend more time with friends? Yeah…" he reached into the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water, "You want anything?"

Greg raised his hand a little, "Yeah, soda!" Faust raised an eyebrow to him. By now he should have known well he didn't have, and never had in his fridge any soda. Greg blushed a little, "Uh, I mean water dude," he threw him the bottle he was holding and averted his glance to Amber, who shook her head. He reached in for another.

"Uh, yeah, spend more time with friends too! And speaking of which…" Amber looked to Greg, who was drinking his water absently. He noticed her head nodding to Faust in an obvious signal.

Clueless for a split second, he realized what she was doing. He reached into his pocket, "Oh yeah! Um, Amber and I are going to the circus next week! My little cousin was going to go, but it's not your clown and juggler circus. So my aunt changed her mind about letting her go, and we have an extra ticket! And we thought… you know… maybe…."

"Yeah, I do know," Faust sat in his desk chair between the two, took a swig from the water, and tried his search again, "You wanted me to go out with you guys to try and make me forget everything I needlessly bind myself to and try to bring Ayden back, right?" he asked incredulously.

Amber and Greg looked to each other, amber sighing. They knew he would see through the ploy in an instant, that they couldn't fool him like that. Amber got up and closed his laptop.

"That's right Faust. You don't need to be up here for the rest of your life and frankly, we're about sick of this flat-fusty-flaccid-_fucking-Faust_!" her hand remained on his laptop and she stared coldly into his visible eye.

Faust stared back, a hint of surprise widening his eyes. An awkward silence veiled the room, Greg frozen with the bottle of water to his lips. Faust eventually broke the silence by shifting reluctantly in his chair and leaning to the floor. He reached under his desk. Feeling around, he touched the gun, nudged it a little farther back, and pulled out a dictionary. He skipped to the F section mumbling, "Fusty, fusty…."

Amber smacked the book away, "Dammit, what's wrong with you? Why can't you just get over it? I kind of thought the therapy helped you, but I was _obviously_ mistaken. Just tell me Faust," Amber grabbed his shoulders, giving him a light shake, "Where's Ayden? What do I have to do to get him back? What's going on in there?"

Faust threw his arms up, throwing hers away, standing up to meet her glare, "Ayden's gone. I can't bring him back, and don't want to. I don't know what the hell 'fusty' means, but to use 'flaccid', well, how long did it take you to think that up, huh?" he waited for a response, only to receive her hair in his face as she turned her head away with a slight blush. He smiled at this response, "A while, huh? Well let me tell you this, Ayden was the 'flaccid' one, so I decided to grow out of it. I was tired of being so damn weak. I refuse to let anything like what happened happen again."

Amber morphed her expression from furious to distressed, "What?… You still think it was ghosts? I thought you were over that!"

"When did I say that? Did you think just because they released me from therapy that they ripped the truth out of me? Did you?" Faust frowned at her, "I don't care what you two believe, it was a ghost that caused… EVERYTHING! That ghost did everything, and I intend to prove it to you!"

"Hey! Leave her alone Faust!" Greg finally decided to speak up and revel a bit of his intimidating side. He stood up and stormed up to Faust, turning him by the shoulder so if there was anyone he wanted to yell at, it was going to be him, "If you want to get in someone's face, it's gonna be mine. Now what the hell are you talking about? You're still stuck on the idea of ghosts being responsible for the accident?"

Faust smirked, truly amused at Greg's naivety, "What was your first clue, the identity swap or the ghost hunting devices that all over the place?"

"WHAT? That's what the deliveries are for? To make weapons?" Amber exploded. She collapsed back into her seat, holding her head horrorstruck, "What happened to you…?"

"What happened to me? If you must know, I'll tell you," Faust ignored Greg and knelt in front of Amber, his arms resting over his knee, "I was emptied. I forgot how to feel joy or love or sadness. I can't taste my food or feel the relief of water running down my throat. I can't enjoy the presence of a woman, and you know what?" Faust stood, Amber meeting his eyes, "I don't want to. I feel clear, focused and strong. Strong enough to show you, show the _world_ just what changed me. I'll prove to the world that ghosts exist."

Greg snickered out of the silence, drawing Faust's attention. His arms were crossed solemnly, "And how are you going to do that? All you've got are these… things you're making, the bogus news from Amity Park and your own deranged illusions."

"Feh, you think so? First of all the Amity news is true, otherwise they wouldn't call it 'news'. Second of all, these aren't for display, they're for _use_. And third," his face curled into a light snarl, "_you_ have no place to tell me what's real or not because you never even watch the Amity news."

"No, I watch the news that has a foothold in the world, like CNN. You know, credible news," Greg proudly stated.

"Yeah," Faust huffed. He opened his laptop again and opened a folder that contained offline references, "You watch media that follows a code that gets ratings while maintaining their credibility, _keeping_ their ratings up. That entails reporting only two things: negative stuff like death and war so people watch, and concrete stuff so they can't be wrong later. Now, does the supernatural come off as concrete? I think not. So tell me," he clicked through a few sub folders that held separate categories, "how do you know what has really happened in the world? They could be handing out food to children in the Middle East, and they wouldn't report it in 'credible news' unless a car were to explode next to them, killing them all."

Greg and Amber looked at each other a little surprised, remembering that on the news. Faust finished opening files and the screen showed a formal report with a picture of an angry Asian woman.

"Look," Faust instructed. Both teens looked over one of his shoulders to see, "This is Harriet Chin, a former reporter for the Milwaukee Journal."

Interrupting Faust, Greg snickered something. He and Amber glanced at him.

"Hahahaha!" Greg burst out, "_Harry-Chin_!… Get it! Harriet-"

Faust snapped his fingers in his face, "Focus!" he hissed, "She filed a report on a ghost attack at her college reunion at Vladimir Master's mansion, during which, a Ghost resembling a vampire possessed someone at the party known as Jack Fenton, one of the world's leading Ghost Experts, and absolutely destroyed the place. But he managed to break free of the ghost's hold and defeat it."

Amber stopped anything he might have had left to say, "So what's your point? There always are going to be idiotic stories like that scattered around the internet, and there are going to be two kinds of people that view them: the kind that go back and refine their Google search and the kind like _you._"

"My _point_, my dear," Faust abruptly began speaking as she had to him, "is that she was immediately fired following her report! Refusing to give her story the slightest chance, or her a second one, they threw her away because she wasn't 'credible'. She broke the code, and for that, she was cast out, thus hiding the story, true or not. Point in question, you don't have _any idea_ what's really happening…" he got up from his seat to go to his window. He could actually see a vague image of the Fentonworks building from his apartment, "I didn't believe in ghosts either. Up until three months ago, I was a happy student getting ready for graduation and life. A life with my friends that would lead to a house and a job and maybe even a wife and kids. That was the path I was on. But-"

"You still can be! It's not too late! And I think if you just went to the circus with us, you'd see that!" Amber pleaded.

There was another silence.

Faust had felt something odd within him. He lost his focus on the Fentonworks building in the distance. He began to fabricate instances in which he was at the circus with the two of them, eating junk food and watching amazing performances. And he was enjoying it. He thought of catching up with what had been lost in the last few months. He thought of getting away for the day and forgetting his past. He thought of time with Amber-

That one snapped him back to reality. He didn't do those things anymore. If he did, he would be succumbing to the weakness that had cost him so much already. That part of him was dead, and he intended to keep it that way.

"…Faust? Hey, Faust, talk to me!"

Faust had his hands on the windowsill, far away in a state of deep thought, her words bringing him out abruptly. He looked at her quickly, causing the force to blow the hair away from his right eye, exposing his long scar. Startled, Amber backed up a step.

He righted himself and fixed his hair, "Amber, I understand what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it a lot. It means a lot to me that there are still people that care about me, regardless of what I've become. But-"

"No, stop right there," she raised a hand in front of his face, "No but's. Just come along, okay? I heard a little glimmer of hope in there for you, so there's no choice in the matter, you're coming with us."

"Amber-"

"No, you're going, and that's that," she grinned mischievously. Greg, as if on queue, emptied his pocket of the package from Clara and the ticket, leaving them on the desk, "And don't give me any excuses about how you'll be too busy, 'cause you aren't getting anymore deliveries from Clara."

"You… Wait, what?"

Greg hurried out giving Faust a wave, and Amber scurried after, closing the door behind her, "See you next Saturday!"

Faust outstretched a hand desperately, "W-waitaminute, what do you mean, 'you aren't getting-' hey! Amber, wait!"

"Are you sure this is right? I mean, you really think there's hope for him?" Greg asked.

"I learned a lot from him. From Ayden, I mean. How to manipulate minds and read personalities to understand how to control them. All we did was plant the seed to his recovery," Amber said flatly. She wasn't use to acting, especially with friends, and it left her emotionally drained.

"Well, Ayden was never wrong about this stuff. I just hope it works on Faust," Greg gave her a small smile and started to the elevator.

Amber folded her arms as if cold, following. She looked back once to the door she'd left, "I just hope the seed has enough food to grow."

And so, Faust was left there, hand reaching to the door, at a loss for words. 'What the hell just happened?' he asked himself, 'What did she mean I'm not getting anymore deliveries from Clara?' he picked up the small box, about the size of can of soup. He grinned lightly, 'Oh well. She probably meant _she_ wouldn't be the one delivering anymore. And even if I couldn't get anymore, this is the last one I really need.'

He ripped open the brown paper, revealing the small white ivory chest. He'd specifically requested that it come in its own custom carrying case. He opened the lid to reveal a small sleek tube, black with green rings around it. He removed it contently.

"An ectoplasmic particle conversion chamber? For me? You shouldn't have!" he sat on his couch and picked up a machine, a gun that was not make shifted through another gun, but a homemade one. It was longer than the other was, and much more advanced. It looked similar to a blow dryer, but not made from one. Though, looking back on it, he regretted not using one in the construction, it would have been a lot easier. It was sleek in design and colored silver, made of light aluminum. Its function was radically different from the first one. He clicked the EPCC into the back, causing the green lines on it to light up. Faust's eye lit up, "Wow. Didn't expect it to work right away! Nice…."

Satisfied with his invention, he retuned to his laptop. He needed to find as many ghost sightings as he could in order to find some sort of pattern in their appearances. His objective was to find that pattern and hunt down a ghost. If he could catch one, preferably one that he had a personal grudge against, he could show everyone what had happened to him. The event that changed his life would no longer be an unsolved mystery, but an awakening the world over.

One problem, he'd tried _everything._ There was nothing left in his brain that could reveal itself as a possible candidate for his searches, and after nights of searching, he was just plain tired of it. Despite the refusal in is mind, he sat in his chair and went online to the search site. His fingers rested at the keys.

'C'mon brain, just a few more. I'm sure we're close… just a few more searches, and….'

His head fell forward onto the keyboard. He was so tired of searching and pretty much just tired. He pounded his fist once into the desk in protest, and prepared for an uncomfortable sleep at his desk like so many before….

One that never came.

As his eyes closed, his screen lit up unexpectedly. He raised his head wearily, wondering what popup got past his security. It was no popup. He was amazed to find himself at the Fentonworks website. A picture of Jack Fenton adorned the top left corner of the screen, Maddie Fenton the top right, and countless links to all sorts of ghost related topics lined the sides. How it happened, he had no idea.

Faust stared blankly at the screen, "Why the hell… didn't I think of this… _before!_?"

With a newfound vigor, he began to scan and print all sorts of data for an hour and a half. The sighting that there were most of was the ghost known to most as Danny Phantom. The most recent poll showed that about ninety percent of those who believed in ghosts in Amity believed him to be a hero rather than villain, but there were still skeptics, so he had many names. Danny Phantom, simply Phantom, Inviso-Bill…

Ghost child….

Faust glanced at the time at the bottom of the laptop screen, '11:37... I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed. I'm sure there will be plenty for me to do soon enough…' Faust stood slowly, the ache of being in one position for too long appearing to his senses. He grabbed his water bottle, clicked his desk light off and headed for his bedroom.

Before closing the door to his room, he glanced back over his shoulder at the ivory box on his desk the EPCC had come in. It was ornate in carvings of elephants and the Buddha, specked with gold. The shadows splashed across Faust's face gave his snide grin a tint of diabolism.

"Yes… I'll have plenty to do very soon."

_Earlier that night…_

A group of people strode carefree out of a movie theater, talking and laughing. Among them were named Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley, and of course, Danny Fenton.

"That was the worst movie ever," Sam grumbled.

"How can you say that? I thought it was awesome!" Tucker countered.

"What did you think, Danny?" Sam asked in an attempt to tip the balance.

"It was alright, I guess. The action seemed a little too… impossible. I mean, it was one thing when he caught the rocket when the guy launched it at him, but when he threw it back at the guy?" Danny folded his arms thoughtfully, "That was just over the top... and kinda gross."

"Yeah, and not just that, but it _showed_ the cows being slaughtered! And what they were using them for…" Sam shuddered.

"Was there a scene like that? I wasn't really watching them…" Tucker's eyes became sly, "I had _my_ eyes on the lead actress…."

Sam stopped abruptly, "TUCKER! Did you even notice that there wasn't a disclaimer stating that no animals were harmed in the making of the film?"

Danny laughed, "Sam, I think we already know that Tucker didn't see anything past that woman's, uh…" he looked down to think of a better term, "…torso, and let's face it, there wasn't much that _could_ be seen past that, and we didn't see any disclaimers because you dragged us out of the theater before we even saw the end!"

"Yeah! And you just knew she was gonna take it off at the end!" Tucker drooped.

Sam placed her hands on her hips and smiled, "As a matter of fact, I did…."

Danny and Tucker looked at each other, the back to Sam, "You knew?" they said in unison.

"Yep. A little pre-feature research can save one the grief of watching a lousy end," she said contently.

Tucker's jaw dropped, and he fell to the sidewalk on his knees, "NOOOOOOO! Sam, how could you? How could you do this to me…?"

Danny knelt down and put his hand on his friends shoulder, "Calm down Tuck. It'll make it to video soon enough…."

Sam wasn't as sympathetic, not possessing the Y chromosome, "Oh, please. It wasn't your time to see that. The only reason we were in there at all was because Danny phased us through the wall."

"Yeah," Danny stood, "Tonight's lesson, we learned R rated movies are overrated, and that's more than we learned in Lancer's class all day."

Sam stared at Danny for a moment, eyebrow raised. They both looked down at Tucker, now on the ground, lightly sobbing.

Danny cleared his throat, "Tonight, _Sam and I_ learned that R rated movies are overrated!"

Sam grinned, but Tucker rose to his feet, his eyes burning with determination.

"I'm going back in there! Maybe it's not too late!" he began charging back to the theater.

Danny sighed, knowing he couldn't let his best friend get into trouble like that. He turned intangible, kicked off the ground and soared at Tucker, and dove into his back. Tucker froze, a green aura surrounding him for a split second, blinked once, and revealed his new green eyes and a sly smile.

Danny, possessing Tucker, turned back to Sam. He stuck out Tucker's chest, "Hi, I'm Tucker Foley, and my testosterone level is currently…" he felt Tucker's wrist thoughtfully with two fingers, "…twenty three hundred fifty seven! Would you like to go out with me?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "C'mon 'Tucker'. There's another reason I had us duck out early," she began down the sidewalk, Danny jogging to catch up.

"What's that? Did I sleep through Lancer handing out homework or something?"

Sam raised her watch to Tucker's eyes, and Danny saw the little hand pretty far up the left side. 9:45.

"Whoa!" Danny widened Tucker's eyes and smiled, "Nice save Sam! I think if I miss one more curfew-" Sam interrupted Danny.

"-You'll be thrown in the Fenton stockades for a week, you told me twice."

"Oh, right," Danny scratched the back of Tucker's head, "Well, that among other things. Dad would cover the stockades, Mom would put me on everything duty, and Jazz, I don't even want to go there…."

"I don't know why she would care, there haven't been any ghost attacks for two almost weeks, and you've only been slipping in your curfews because you never carry your watch anymore!"

"I told you, Skulker trashed it the last time he attacked me! Jeez, I still have bruises from that one…."

"Oh please. You heal so fast, you couldn't get workers comp at a union."

"Well, can't argue with tha-" in mid word, a blue vapor drifted from Tucker's mouth. Danny instinctively looked off in the direction it drifted, that being downtown, "Oh no," he groaned, "Why _now_?"

"Had to happen some time, I guess. Don't worry, I'll drag Tucker to your house and cover for you."

"Thanks Sam," Danny contorted Tucker's face from his own determination. A green glow again surrounded Tucker as Danny stepped out of him. He crouched down, "Cover me."

Sam stepped in front of the dazed Tucker, concealing Danny from two lines of view, the other two being clear of spectators. A bright ring appeared at his waist, separating into two running along his body. The clothes they moved over transformed into a black and white jumpsuit, but more importantly, they transformed Danny Fenton into something else entirely. Passing over his head, the rings revealed a mirror image of Danny with snow-white hair and glowing green eyes.

Danny became intangible and flew into the ground, avoiding any eyes that might catch him in the sky.

Sam watched him vanish before her. She felt a little sad seeing her friend go like that, with such an overbearing responsibility that every time he became Danny Phantom, he was ultimately risking his life. It was, however, something she loved about him. He was brave enough to act for everyone; he never thought twice about throwing himself between great evil and people that loved, feared, and hated him alike. At the same time, she wished it were someone else. Why did it have to be him? Why did Danny, the completely average boy cursed with the worst of responsibilities, have to be the one that could be there one minute and gone forever the next? A quiet, shameful battle within her, her love for his chivalrous side and her love for his presence.

Yes, she loved him, or at least thought she did, she tried not to visit that realm of her mind often. She feared that feeling, that if ever revealed, it could destroy the friendship they already had. But that was really all she needed, his presence and his friendship. Always having him around, that was all she needed. It was okay to keep the secret.

Tucker stood in a vacant daze. He shook his head suddenly and looked around. An unholy anger appeared on his face.

"I'll get you for this Danny!" he called to the sky, "But in the meantime…" Tucker checked his watch, "I bet I can still make it!" he reared for a dash back to the theater, but Sam grabbed his shirt.

"Tucker, what are you doing?" Sam asked warily, gripping his collar.

"Uhhh… I was gonna… go to the _store_, and uh… get some-Look out, it's Ember!"

"WHAT?" Sam spun to see a few trees and the moon, but no ghost diva. She slumped angrily at the fact that she'd fallen for it, and didn't even bother to turn back. Had she, she would have found a fluttering paper and a sidewalk. Instead, she began to Danny's house to think up an alibi for him, feeling just a little sorry to have to waste Danny's efforts to save Tucker.

Danny watched his two friends go their different ways from above, invisible. He was thankful on a level that that words could scarcely describe to have them both. In his insecure teenage mind, he once had thoughts that questioned their friendship, that he didn't matter that much to them, that he was just there. He thought that he had to work to preserve their friendship in ways that forced him to change who he was. But through the turmoil of his double life, his responsibilities, ghosts and fate alike would test the boundaries of their bonds. Every time such events occurred, they came out as even better friends than before. Eventually he discovered a higher definition of friendship that they had always shared, but had never been able to see himself. He'd screwed up plenty of times himself, at first glance completely _annihilating_ their friendship all at once, performing unforgivable acts of shallowness or stupidity. But somehow, they always managed to drag him back to reality, _their_ reality, and snap him out of it. He was getting older, wiser, and was reaching the stage that moms and dads always talked about when you become truly thankful for all the things you didn't want to do then. He was very thankful to have them around, and would do anything for the two of them. If he didn't, he feared he might lose them someday. And he couldn't imagine what he'd do without the two of them. He feared that without them, he would become the… _other_ him. The one that he sealed up in the Fenton Thermos and left in the hands of Clockwork. Without his two beloved friends that would go to the ends of the Earth for him… he feared himself.

'Whoop! Back to reality Fenton! You've got work to do,' Danny thought, recalling the ghostly entity in the vicinity. His spectral tail emerged, taking place of his legs, and he raced off to downtown.

At the edge of town, people gathered around a warehouse. One woman pounded at the door, sobbing madly and cursing someone inside. A young woman by the name Paullina stepped up to her, who happened to have been out shopping.

"What's wrong miss? What are you doing?" Paullina asked, feeling a womanly kinship with the woman's extreme display of emotion. She knew well what it was like to break a nail!

"A GHOST!" she wailed to the sky more than at Paullina, "A GHOST KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER!" she fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands, "Please," she whispered, "Won't someone, anyone…."

Paullina stepped back, realizing she didn't belong anywhere near the woman's side. She knew anything she'd ever felt probably couldn't compare to this woman's sorrow.

But it was a feeling so short lived, she didn't even feel it. She suddenly had an idea. Maybe if she helped the mother get the door open, and the ghost within captured her, then _he_ would come and save her, as he had so many other times.

Paullina grabbed a handle on the door and looked down at the crying mother, "Don't give up!" she crooned, "I bet I could help you open the door!"

The mother wiped a tear away and looked fondly at the teen who was willing to aid her, "Thank you… you're right, I can't give up, it's… my daughter in there!" and with that, she began pulling again with the young Latino girl, driven by sheer motherly instinct.

Unlike Paullina, who was driven by sheer teenage hormones.

Inside, a young girl huddled in a corner, filled with terror. She had been in the most horrifying game of hide and seek ever for the past hour. Tears of fear filled her wide eyes, so terrified she could scarcely see. She bunched up her shirt in her hands and gripped it, trying to find some small comfort in pretending she was holding her mothers hand.

"Liiiiiiiiiiiindseeeeeeeeeeeeey…" called a high, smooth woman voice. A shadow crept around the corner. The worst part of that was that with the nature of the ghost, Lindsey couldn't tell if it was the ghost or just its shadow, "Where aaaaaaaaare you? We're not done playing sweetie! Where ever could you be?…"

She wanted to scream, she really did. She just couldn't. She was unable to make a single sound. This… thing had made it impossible, instilling in her so much fear she was unable to use her voice. The shadow moved closer and closer around the stack of boxes she had made her small refuge behind. She curled into a tight ball, tears unconsciously streaming down her face.

"You know, I wonder, where _is_ that mother of yours? Why hasn't she come to help you? Why hasn't she come to save you? Could it be… that she's forgotten you?" the shadow halted, not needing to proceed any further, "Has it crossed your mind, Lindsey?"

The thought had scarcely entered Lindsey's mind, but she dismissed it to make room for thoughts that concerned with the task at hand, surviving. She knew her mother was coming for her, she knew she would make the monster go away, she knew she would be okay, but now that it was mentioned….

'Where are you Mommy? Why haven't you gotten me yet? Why haven't you… where are you?' Lindsey didn't understand the feeling rising inside her, a doubt that she would really be okay. If she couldn't believe in her mother coming for her, then…

…Was there anything she could believe in?

"You want to know the truth? Sweetie, I wouldn't hide _that_ from you. The truth is she's _never_ coming for you. Your mother has abandoned you, and so has everyone else. You're _worthless_ to them…"

Danny had heard about two sentences escape Spectra's mouth before he realized the situation. He couldn't believe she would sink so low. She had tried to kill his sister and he still didn't expect something like _this_ from her. Danny had silently entered the dark warehouse to find one of his less threatening adversaries milking the misery, doubt and, a new one, _fear_ from a little girl. What she was doing to Lindsey… Danny found it unforgivable. His rage boiled uncontrollably within him. He was ready to unleash everything he had on Spectra, but… there was the girl to think about. She could get hurt.

Danny went intangible and flew silently along the floor and through the box she leaned against, hearing Spectra's harsh words. He reached through the box and clasped his hand over mouth, turning her intangible and pulling her in with him.

She struggled violently against him trying to get free. But feeling the warmth of his arms in the cold of the night, she couldn't struggle long. Survival instinct faded from her and she relaxed in his arms looking drearily up into his eyes, distantly bewildered. He smiled down at her and whispered into her ear, avoiding any chance of Spectra hearing him over her continuing drone of despair.

"Everything is okay now Lindsey. Don't listen to a single word she says. She's good at getting inside your head, but it's all lies. Your mom is right outside trying to get in, I'm going to take you to her and everything is going to be fine. Okay?"

It was then that Lindsey realized it was Danny Phantom who was holding her. Her mother believed he was a villain, but anything that she had instilled in her was immediately torn away, gaining total faith in him all at once. The tears in her eyes faded and dried, and she stirred calmly in his arms, nuzzling him for more of the peaceful warmth he emitted.

Danny a strange new joy as she lay in his arms. He'd saved someone not from a quick death, but from a tormented life. To save someone's mind, it gave him a relief he'd never known. But the rage swiftly returned to him as he heard Spectra continue her lecture on Lindsey's worthlessness. For some reason, he couldn't quite pin it down, what she had done was absolutely unforgivable, and he decided that she needed to learn a lesson, and a very, _very_ harsh one. It was time for her to pay.

"Oh why, why did it take her? Lindsey, come back…" her mother sobbed distantly. Paullina continued to pull at the door with all her strength, but understood that something was obviously jamming it, something stronger than a lock. She ceased her efforts as well and tried to comfort the mother, suggesting to her they that find another way in.

Suddenly, Danny emerged from the wall of the warehouse, sporting a determined face and a small, dazed looking girl. Paullina perked her head up and noticed him. She gasped, "Danny! Hi! Do you remember me?" she trotted happily up to him, forgetting the crying mother.

The mother, however, widened her eyes in fear seeing him, and she burst toward the two of them frantically.

"MY BABY! GIVE HER BACK TO ME, YOU MONSTER! YOU _FREAK_!" she dashed at the two of them, blinded by instinct from the fact that if he really were evil, he could completely rend her in seconds.

"Mommy, _stop_!" Leslie firmly stated, with the child-like superiority of which children all are have. Her mother froze at her daughter's demand. She weakly spoke, but with the general silence, could be heard by most of the people gathered, "Danny Phantom… saved me… from the shadow… so leave him alone… because people are always saying he's evil… but he's not… it's the other ghosts…." suddenly, she seemed to lose the will to say anymore, and she retreated back into Danny's chest, nuzzling him for warmth.

Danny was a little surprised himself at the child's speech, but something had to be done about that… thing in the warehouse. He approached the mother, who locked eyes with his, "Please take your daughter. She'll be okay, she's just cold and scared." the mother scooped up her daughter eagerly, Lindsey showing a hint of reluctance, but remained intent to listen to Danny. He turned away, toward the door of the warehouse, "I'm sorry I can't stay to explain, but… I have to make sure this sort of thing will never happen again."

Danny approached the door, and as he did, grabbed the door handle and quickly ripped it clean off its hinges. Behind it was a very surprised looking Bertrand in his blobish green form, who quickly vanished within the Fenton Thermos. He calmly strode in as if nothing happened, vanishing into the darkness of the building.

As the crowd chattered their comparisons of what just happened and a mother and daughter reunited embraced, a young teen stood alone.

"Um, hello? Aren't you forgetting someone?" Paullina shouted franticly. No one listened to her.

"…And so, sweetie, that's why no one's coming for you!" Spectra spoke cheerfully, unaware she was talking to herself, "You're stuck here with me, forever… you are all mine," at last, she floated around the corner to where Lindsey… should have been, "What?" her narrow red eyes widened in shock, "But how? I was sure… How could… Phantom!"

Spectra leapt into the narrow stretch of space where Lindsey had been to avoid any attacks from behind, and with a flash of black spectral smoke, her more powerful Ecto-Suit appeared around her. She floated defensively in the air.

"Danny, what are you doing here? Why must you always ruin everything I try to accomplish?" there was no response, but now able to focus on him, she now sensed his presence. She knew he was here, "Oh well. I suppose it gives me a chance to try out my new power on you! You see, for the past hour or so, I've fed on that girl's emotions! And instead of her misery making me youthful, her fear has made me powerful," red energy gathered at her hands, and she waited for Danny's attack. She still found nothing. An annoyed look overtook her face.

She jumped when she heard a light crack behind her. She spun around and shot a beam at the metal crate behind her, blowing a large, black, round hole in it. She gazed at her hand.

"Wow! That _is_ good stuff!" she declared, referring to Lindsey's fear. She turned back around, dismissing the sound as something settling, "Alright Danny, now why don't you come out and have a little chat with Ms. Spectra, hm?" she said sweetly.

Another light crack sounded out, echoing around the warehouse for a second, then silence again. Spectra became thoroughly annoyed.

"Phantom, show yourself already! Where are you?" Spectra listened for a moment, and hearing nothing, sighed, "Bertrand dear," she sweetly called, "would you deal with Phantom, I've got better things to do…" still silence, "Huh?"

"No one left to order around," a voice sounded.

Spectra quickly went battle ready again, whose only response was another crack, "Phantom, what have you done with Ber-" she smacked her forehead, "Oh, that blasted thermos…."

"No one left to protect you," it stated again.

Spectra, at this point, sensed something was wrong, 'Why isn't he attacking? Where is he? Is that… is that even _him_?' she glanced her eyes around, trying to sense the slightest anomaly around her. Another crack, slightly closer sounding, interrupted her concentration.

"No one left to feed off."

"Phantom, _enough_. Just come over here and-" -_CRACK-_ "Dammit Phantom, _stop that_!"

"There's no one, Spectra. Nothing to help you, and no one to carry you."

Spectra glared into the silence, but her mind spoke differently, 'What's he playing at? Is he trying to shake me? No, he's not that stupid. He knows I am the superior intellect. So what if he's captured Bertrand? I don't need him! I'm powerful enough to defeat Phantom now, I don't need any-' something struck Spectra, something she'd never considered. In most instances, she _did_ need someone or something to continue off of. Misery to feed off, Bertrand to protect her when something weakened her, even her creations like her Ecto-Suit needed teen genes… 'Okay, so I'm a little high maintenance, so what? It's not like I _have_ to have someone or something aiding me to fight! I just… prefer it. And I'm already feeding off Lindsey's fear, so what do I have to worry about?' _CR-CRACK. _"Phantom, if you don't stop whatever that is RIGHT NOW-!"

"You'll what? You think you can fight on your own because you fed off a little girl's fear? You know, being who I am, I've seen some pretty low acts…. I've dealt with giant slime monsters, ghosts with crushes on my mom and sister, Box Lunch…" there was a pause, "But what you've done today… I have never been so disgusted in my _life_," the voice hissed, "It's… unredeemable."

"What makes you think I want _your_ redemption? Who are you to judge me, Phantom?" Spectra demanded, feeling the situation was shifting in her favor.

Silence shrouded the warehouse. The only light in the warehouse swung lightly over Spectra's head in the center of the ceiling. She dared not move from it, lest she make herself vulnerable. She felt a slight wind pass by her, then another from behind her. The light swung a little harder. Spectra had had enough.

"Phantom, I'm giving you till three to show yourself, or I'm coming after you myself!" Spectra relaxed her stance, "One…"

A green beam shot through the hole she made earlier, striking her in the back. She fell to the floor but quickly recovered and returned fire through the hole, but hit nothing but the wall beyond. Another blast came from the other way, striking her in the back again. She bore through it and turned. She saw a shadow leap away from a rafter into the darkness. She shot off furiously in pursuit.

When she got to the rafter, she saw nothing that resembled a Phantom. She looked down and observed the ground floor, unable to see any movement. From out of her sight, an intangible hand emerged from a metal crate and shot a green blast up at the rafter. Spectra saw it and leapt away, only to have two feet smash into her from above, sending her crashing to the floor. When she recovered, there was a renewed silence and no movement.

'What's going on? He _can't_ be that fast!' Spectra floated along through the warehouse to find the source of this onslaught.

About every two seconds, she saw a shadow flash past the corner of her eye, but when she turned to see where it went, it was gone. She saw another, and another, and she froze. It was then she realized the shadows surrounded her, encircling her. From an overhead view, one could see many humanoid shadows, moving too fast to count, flashing in and out of view from behind crates at amazing speeds.

Spectra couldn't move. All the memories from her past battles with Danny were conflicting with her movements. She knew that if she ran, he would catch her. If she attacked, he would counter. If she moved… so she stood there, floating in the middle of a Danny Phantom ring.

All at once, they halted. Either crouching or floating or standing they stopped, all eyes on Spectra. She was shocked when she saw the real number, there must have been fifty Dannys! Only one, however, stepped forward.

"Who am I to judge you, Spectra?" Danny asked, a carelessness in his voice, "I am all there is now. You are alone. No one can help you now."

Spectra was dumbstruck, 'There are multiple Dannys? Am I insane? How can this be? And what's he…. I'm alone?'

"I know your weakness Spectra. You can only fight me so many times before I find some shortcut. I know that you can't maintain your own power taken by feeding on other's emotions unless your own emotions are in perfect place," Danny took a few steps forward, "That's why you're always so happy and peppy, and you don't feed on happiness. You can't hold your power unless you avoid the emotions you take. And you know what?" Danny began to walk around her, keeping his eyes on her, "You just absorbed more fear than you'll ever know."

Spectra would have felt a cold chill down her spine, infiltrating every fiber of her being, if she had a spine. Surely there's a ghostly equivalent to the feeling she felt. She had no idea how, Danny had discovered her weakness. If she felt any of the emotion she absorbed as power, youth, any kind of nectar sucked from humans, she lost control of it.

And right then, she was alone. She was shaking, she was surrounded, powerless and hopelessly _alone._ She was scared to be alone.

"Phantom… what do you want from me?" Spectra weakly whispered. She held her hands over her head and floated down to her knees, overwhelmed by her own and Lindsey's fear.

Danny's face went from uncaring to quite pleased, knowing he had broken the psychotic psychiatrist's barriers, "I'm not here to take anything from you. I'm here to teach you a simple lesson," Danny raised a finger and pointed it at Spectra, "A lesson on proper psychiatry," green energy surrounded his fingertip, "A lesson on empathy," Spectra shivered as she watched Danny, but unable to take the fear, she shut her eyes, "But most importantly, a lesson on how to play nicely with kids."

Danny pointed his finger away abruptly, not at Spectra but at the ceiling light hanging above, never taking his eyes off her. He released the energy in a small beam at the light. The light exploded and went out immediately as the beam struck it, leaving the room in total darkness.

Spectra squeezed her eyes shut until she no longer heard the clinking of the light bulb glass hitting the floor. The room was in total silence. She opened her eyes.

Everywhere… eyes. She looked, up, down, left and right, all she could see were glowing green eyes, glaring at her. There were hundreds, thousands…. The room was enshrouded in a dim green glow that human eyes could not see objects in, just the green darkness.

However, considering how close he was, she could vaguely make out the Danny who had been doing the lecturing, his eyes the glowing pinnacle of her fear. He had one fist in his hand, the same _CRACK_ she had heard in the first place coming from his knuckles.

"Class is in session, Ms. Spectra."

"How could he just ignore me like that?" Paullina whined on the sidewalk outside the warehouse, away from the crowd.

The crowd had gathered around the warehouse a little closer, among them, Dash, Quan, Star, and a little farther away, Valerie.

"Oh, Phantom's gonna kick the crap outta that kidnapping ghost!" Dash proclaimed.

"Yeah!" Quan agreed, "He won't let us down!"

"No question! Danny Phantom is so cool!" Star cheered, a little dreamily.

"I don't know _how_ you guys can worship him like that. Even _if_ ghosts disagree, it doesn't make one any less dangerous to humankind," Valerie huffed, making the popular trio turn. As much as she wanted to go in there and destroy both ghosts in there, she was wise enough to know that it would be stupid to go into a dark warehouse with two hostile entities inside. Better to wait for one to emerge as a victor and take out the remaining one.

"How can you say that, Valerie?" Quan burst with open arms, "He saved us all when Amity got sucked into the Ghost Zone! I was suspicious of him too before that, but that makes him cool in my book!"

"Yeah! How would you know any more about ghosts than the rest of us anyway?" Dash demanded snidely.

Valerie looked away, "Hmph. One of these days, you guys'll see his real face…"

As Valerie trailed off, a blood-curdling woman's scream rang out from inside the warehouse. A scream that embodied terror, pain, and sorrow all at once. Simultaneously, green energy flooded the windows, causing them to burst open, shattering. The doorway, no one being near it thankfully, burst with energy too. For a solid three seconds the energy flowed freely. Then it subsided, leaving a ringing silence in its wake.

Suddenly, a figure burst through the wall, no, not phased through it, but thrown straight through the poorly made wood and plastic wall. It plummeted to the pavement below, landing with a soft thud next to Paullina, who shrieked and dashed off down the road. Green smoke rose off the still laying body, reverted back to the black shadow form. Danny floated out of the hole in passive pursuit.

Spectra lay on the sidewalk, staring up at the night sky. If she could have been any darker, there would be terrible burn marks covering her. It wasn't in her to move anymore. She had nothing left. No emotion, no energy, nothing. She was empty.

Danny landed and knelt down beside her, showing little remorse on his face, "Sorry Spectra, but remember, this is only a warning. I don't care if you come back from the ghost zone a thousand times again, if you ever can," Danny removed the thermos from his back, "but if I ever… _ever_ see you near another child again," Danny stood and pointed the Thermos down at her, "I will not hold back again. So from now on," Danny smirked darkly at her, "…play nice."

And with that, Spectra disappeared into the blue light of the Thermos. Danny closed the cap, wondering if he went too far with her. He'd never fought like that, never felt quite so driven. He decided he wouldn't do anything like ever again that unless the receiver deserved it, only when a truly unforgivable act is committed, like traumatizing a six year old girl and feeding off her fear. Something that, out of sheer instinct, he had to teach them never to do again unless over his cold dead body.

Danny sighed and tried to take to the skies, but as he turned away from the spot Spectra rested, the crowd, which had swelled to the size of about a hundred people, stopped him. As he stared blankly at them, they suddenly exploded in cheer, Dash Quan and Star leading it. His eyes grew wide and his arms fell limp.

"Way to go Phantom!" Quan cheered, "Oh, you don't mind if I call you Phantom, do you?"

"It didn't stand a chance!" Dash shouted.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh it's DANNY PHANTOM!" Star jumped up and down like a fangirl meeting her idol.

It hit Danny right then, as he began to back away in defense, "Waitaminute," he looked thoughtful, "You people are cheering? As in, people sowing openly that they don't hate and/or want me dead?" he looked around at the people, "When did this happen?"

The crowd fell silent. Dash spoke up when no one else did, "Uhh… When you saved all our lives in that whole disappearing town thing, I guess."

Danny was silent. He preferred not to think about that event, still feeling as though he'd failed in a way. He'd lost his parents Ecto-Skeleton and never found out what the deal with Fright Knight was. But everyone else… now that he thought about it, they actually _knew_ he'd done something good for once, and must have been, dare he think such a reality defying thought, grateful!

"Wait wait wait, let me get this straight," Danny raised a hand to prevent any interruptions, "What you're saying is that there are people in Amity Park that… trust me? Even _like_ me?"

"Well, there are some people that still don't trust you, but those are people like the Fentons… and Valerie," Quan spoke up, "but, well, yeah! Lot's of people like you!"

"Whoa. That…" Danny contemplated this for a second, able to feel people's admiration for the first time. And it felt pretty good, "That makes my job a lot easier!"

The victory was short lived, as a familiar R.V. skidded to a halt before the crowd. A hulking man in an orange jumpsuit toting green and silver rifle-like weapon emerged from one side, while on the other, a _much_ smaller woman emerged in a blue jumpsuit with a smaller gun.

Danny smacked his forehead, "Great, just what I need."

"Has anyone seen a ghost?" Jack shouted.

A surfer type guy stepped from the crowd, "Uh-huhuh, don't worry bro. Danny Phantom already took care of it!" he pointed over his shoulder to Danny, who was creeping toward a bush to hide, but since someone had just pointed him out…

"_You_! Jack, we've got him this time!" Maddie exclaimed, aiming her weapon, "Everyone, get out of the way! We'll handle this!"

Jack and Maddie dashed at Danny ignoring the crowd, until they got in the way. They shielded Danny away from the Fentons' charge. The ghost hunters looked around, bewildered.

"What's going on? What are you people doing?" Jack demanded, keeping his eye on Danny.

"You can't attack him! He's the good guy! He just trapped the real evil ghost in that thermos-thing!" Star tried to explain.

"Thermos? What?…" Jack squinted at Danny, who was now just trying to sneak away, forgetting he had the ability to turn invisible. This of course exposed his back, where the Fenton Thermos rested on a silver strap, "Hey, that-?"

Jack, unable to hear the people below him or the words of his wife, suddenly grit his teeth. His face turned scarlet and fire burned in his eyes. He threw his arms up, launching a few people skyward in the process, and roared.

"THAT KID HAS MY THERMOOOOOOOS!" Jack rushed back to the Ghost Assault Vehicle, rustled around inside, and came out with a monstrous bazooka that said on the side, 'Fenton Ghost Obliviator' and lowered goggles, "You're goin' down, ghost punk, you hear me? DOWN!"

"Jack, stop! That hasn't been tested yet!" Maddie called, now jogging back from the crowd.

"Sorry Maddie," Jack looked through the scope, setting his sights on Danny and seeing the satisfying 'locked on' symbol, "But this… is personal," he overdramatically whispered.

"Please don't shoot Danny," asked a tiny voice.

"What the-!" Jack looked away from the scope and looked left and right sternly, but found no one. He felt a gentle tug on his jumpsuit leg. He lowered his head to see a six year old girl at his feet, "Who the heck are you?"

"My name is Lindsey!" she said cheerfully, "And Danny saved me from the Spek-ta ghost. He was very nice to me, so could you please not shoot him with that big thingy?"

This kid had hit Jack's soft spot hard, and it forced him into contemplation of what the little girl had just asked him. 'She doesn't want me to soot the ghost punk, that much I got, but why again? He saved her from another ghost? How was that possible? She did look a little beat up and tired, but… did that mean he _fought_ with another ghost? Maybe all the stuff that everyone was saying was true, maybe he was good, decent at least….'

Danny struggled against Star's grip around his abdomen, claiming she would protect him, "Uh, Star-MISS! Miss, could you let go? I don't particularly want to get shot by, uh, that thing," Danny said nervously.

"You're so cut and defined…" whispered Star happily, obviously using the situation to her advantage.

Danny's eyes widened feeling something run over his abdomen, but through the jumpsuit, his mind was unable to fabricate what it was, "E-EXCUSE ME?"

"Uh, I said… Everything's gonna be fine…!" she moved her grip to his neck, and using her cheerleading powers of rallying, roused the crowd, "Don't worry, we wont let them hurt you! Right everyone?"

Danny acknowledged everyone cheering their agreement, but he was already getting tired of having fans. He noticed his father eyeing him thoughtfully.

"Jack? Jack, snap out of it!" Maddie demanded. Jack looked away from the girl to the crowd that somehow became a protest line for Phantom rights, and Star clinging to Phantom's neck crooning him with words of protection, and Phantom, who was just confused, "These people really don't want him hurt! What should we do?"

Jack glanced from Lindsey to his wife to Danny to his F.G.O. and back to Lindsey, "But… but my thermos…" he whimpered.

"I think he's caught more ghosts in it than you guys have ever even seen!" she exclaimed happily, "Can't you let him have it? He used it to capture two ghosts tonight!"

"…Two?" Jack peeped. In his life, he hadn't caught one, except that time he 'captured' Phantom. How could this be possible, a ghost fighting other ghosts…?

"Please," said a new, pleading voice. Jack looked up to see a woman approach them and scoop up Lindsey, insinuating she was her mother, "I didn't trust Phantom either, but he saved my daughter. I know why they named him Amity's number one enemy, but if he's really turned around and decided to protect us, shouldn't he get another chance? Did he ever have a first?"

"But-" Jack started again, but couldn't find words to put behind it. Could there really be a good ghost, not out to destroy, as he had seen so many times?

Jack came to a decision at last, laying down the F.G.O., he solemnly stated, "Maddie… if these people really don't want Phantom hurt, then…" he smiled to her. He then looked on to Phantom, "Then these people must be ALL BE POSSESSED BY GHOSTS! GET THE FENTON DEGHOSTIFIERS, STAT!" Jack jumped into the G.A.V. again and came out with a Ghostbusters looking backpack, "BONSAI!" he charged the group of people like a bull, spraying the crowd with a green goop, pelting them all. Their response was nothing more than standing statue still with a unified glare.

Danny sighed, and slightly afraid of what the green stuff could do to him, turned intangible, and passed through Star, "Sorry everyone, but I do ghosts, not… those guys!" he waved happily and, becoming invisible, shot off to the sky, hearing his father saying, "Don't worry people, this is a specially engineered ectoplasm. The ghosts should be out of you in no ti- Wait, what are you doing? Stop, no! Maddie, the deghostifier didn't work, ruuuuuuun!" and a screeching of tires rang through the streets.

"And that's what happened with Spectra," Danny explained to Sam, who hadn't explained anything to his parents, they had been out all night hunting him, so for all they knew, he'd been home since eight; Tucker, who had been thrown out of the movie theater three times attempting to see the movie again; and Jazz, who was just paranoid as always. They all sat in his room, just happy to see him alive.

"I knew that new duplicating trick was good for something," Tucker said coolly. He had a bruise on his cheek from the sidewalk hitting him as they literally threw out the third time.

"For the last time Tucker, it's not Duplicating!" Danny stood from his bed and allowed green energy to surround him. He stepped to the side, leaving the energy surrounding him behind, and it turned into an image of Danny, blankly staring at nothing. The real Danny waved his hand through the image, making it ripple as it passed through, "See? Duplicates have their own mind, even though their tied to mine, and have their own body. These are just… afterimages, shadows. That's what I'll call them, Shadows!" Danny said contently, "But they have no body, so they can't attack. They're just to confuse and stuff."

"And they take almost no power to make, so you can make tons at a time, right?" asked Sam, who sat in a chair, still amazed at the trick Danny had discovered nearly a week ago, training to Duplicate.

"Yeah, it's cool and all, but it's too bad that you can't make Duplicates. If you could, you'd have time to do both ghost hunting and school," said Jazz sadly.

Danny glanced at her, smiled and looked away, kind of an 'I know something you don't know' look. Everyone noticed and looked at each other.

"No way," Sam said, leaping from the chair and shaking Danny's shoulder, "No way! Danny, _no way_!"

"Tell me you're kidding dude. You can't have _done_ it," Tucker joined in.

"Do you mean…" Jazz began, standing from the floor.

Danny smiled hugely and toothily, squeezing his eyes shut as if anticipating something.

Danny suddenly burst opened the door from the outside and leaned on the doorframe with an elbow, "Hey guys, what's goin' on?"

Everyone jumped, now witnessing two, technically three Dannys. The two conscious Dannys smiled at each other and laughed. The Shadow Danny turned back into green energy and flowed into the Danny who created it and the two remaining walked into each other, producing a bright green glow and leaving one Danny. Sam, Tucker and Jazz gaped.

"Danny, why didn't you tell us?" Tucker and Sam demanded in unison.

"I just did!" Danny laughed, "I just wanted to wait for the right moment…."

"So… which one was the real one?" Jazz questioned.

"Heh, you'll never know, will you?" Danny queried, folding his arms, "Problem is I can only make one Duplicate. But even that I like, 'cause if I make Shadows and Duplicates like I did tonight, you can't really tell the Shadows from the Dupe from me!"

"Well this is great Danny! Now you can lead two lives at once! You at school and the Dupe fighting ghosts!" Jazz exclaimed, hugging her brother.

"Jazz…" Danny pushed her away, "The thing is… it doesn't work that way," Danny scratched the back of his neck, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

"Why not Danny? This is what you've been waiting for, right? To literally lead two lives? Why can't it work that way?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Well, I tried going far away from it, but… once I go a certain distance, it… dissolves. Like, I can't maintain its form, and the energy I used to make it comes back to me. And not only that, but I remember fighting the Ghost King, and when he hit one of my Dupes, they were destroyed immediately, so it wouldn't be too useful in fighting alone. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm still stuck living a two for one life."

"Danny…" Sam said softly, hoping to comfort him somehow.

Danny was a little disappointed when he found out about the limitations of the Dupes, but at the same time, part of him was okay with it. What other fifteen year old gets to save the town on a regular basis from evil creatures from another dimension? '…Valerie, I guess,' Danny answered his own thought. But now that he'd had his ghost powers for about nine months, he really didn't mind being the hero for everyone, especially now that they had begun to appreciate him. 'Wait….'

"Hey," Danny suddenly said, "Did you guys know that people like me now? As in, people who don't hate and/or want me dead?"

Everyone stared blankly at Danny before Sam spoke, "Uh, hello? Don't you watch the news? When you first saved Amity from the Ghost King, you had something like a sixty percent approval rating!"

"Actually, it was more like sixty five or seventy. But now it's more like only the government despises you because you either A. have a mark of attacking the mayor on you're papers, or B. take business away from the already useless safety services," Tucker added in his 'Tucker's right' way.

"Hey, between ghost fighting, dodging Valerie, hiding my secret from mom and dad, school, and my training, I'm lucky to watch _anything_!" Danny huffed, his expression becoming frustrated. He was suddenly alarmed and dove for his backpack, "And speaking of which…" he pulled out a small packet of papers, "Tonight's gone so well, I think I can still get Lancer's next stupid book report in on time!" he said happily.

"That thing?" Sam said surprised, "Isn't that due tomorrow?"

"Yup," Danny slammed the half finished paper on his desk, "And I'm finishing it tonight."

Jazz gasped, "Danny, it's almost eleven!" she got up and began pushing Sam and Tucker out, "You two have got to go, Danny's got work to do!"

"Danny, we-!" Sam said before Jazz threw them out and slammed the door.

"Jazz, what are you doing?" Danny started wearily.

"What part of 'meddling and overprotective' didn't you get? I'm not going to let you lose anymore sleep on the night you finally have the opportunity to bring your grades back up!" Jazz decreed as if she were his mother.

Danny groaned and sat in his desk chair, "Could you at least show them out? They're kind of, you know, my only friends…."

Jazz smiled, "Sure, but if you leave that chair before that report is done, I'm locking the Specter Deflector on you," she cheerfully smiled and hurried out to make sure the two on the other side couldn't get a word in.

He sighed and picked up a pencil and began to write. It was times like the ones he just had that he lived for, a peaceful moment where no one near him wanted him dead or imprisoned. He reveled in his tranquility, but he liked his action too. So what if his Duplicate couldn't take one of his lives over? Danny was happy with the way things were. He was content with his two best friends, his overprotective sister, even his parents, who were goofy but meant well half the time, and hunted him like a dog the other half. Danny was happy, and he wasn't about to let that change.

About forty minutes later, he had finished the report decently in his opinion. He yawned, went to his window and leaned on the sill. He often checked it to see if his ghost sense would go off. There were almost no lights on in the city, save the streetlights and car headlights, but the clouds prevented him from seeing the stars. The last time he stargazed was the night Youngblood first attacked, so he decided against it anyway. Across the city on the east side, he saw the last light on fade out.

"I like the way your mind works dude. That's what I'm doing…."

Danny yawned again and allowed his spectral tail to emerge and carry him to his wall, where he turned off the lights and flew to bed. Under his covers, he checked his clock.

"11:37, not bad. I've done worse…" and the hero known as Danny Phantom gave in to his exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.

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**WHAT DID YOU THINK WHAT DID YOU THINK WHAT DID YOU THINK! I gotta know I gotta know TELL ME! Bad or good, give me a response for god sake! Tell me how to improve! If you made it this far I guess it couldn't have been that bad, but please! Tell me any errors, problems in flow, whatever! I want to be a better writer, but really… school doesn't teach that.**

**I've got the next few chapters already done, if I am well liked, then gosh by golly I might just have to post another chapter! Now go on, there's a little button down there in the corner… REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh CRAP! Aw man aw man… I didn't know transferring between the formats would take out all my event separators! And not only that, but I could have SWORN I edited the movie theater scene! What anyone read there was my vague, unedited rough draft… Maybe I forgot to save it… Oh well, what's done is done. I think I got all the event separators in on this one, and will at least try to make them more clear from now on. So… Blackfox 14, you aren't slow, that was totally my bad!**

**That all aside, the reviews I got were very reassuring. Perhaps I'll be confident on this one, and might even hope for some criticism from one of the authors I consider my inspirations in this site, like… like… … NOOO! I cannot say who they are! They cannot know who I am! Disappears into the shadows**

**Well, that's out of the way… Now all I can say is please read and review. The reviews I've gotten are nice, but I WANT MORE! MOOOOOORE! Reviews feed my powah…**

**Right… riiiiiight… I guess I forgot this in the last chapter… but I'm only doing this ONCE!**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, that's Butch Hartman… that genius bastard_. **

**FAUST IS MINE THOUGH! XD**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Mr. Thomas's class was running out of the room in a panic. They all dashed passed Steven, who had indeed dropped the crate, but was ignoring it now and slowly backing away from the room, terror painted upon his face. Out of the room came… or more appropriately, floated a strange man.

Ayden had thought the figure would have been intimidating, but that was not the case. The short man had a stout, squarish frame with stubby legs, and wore work attire that greatly reminded Ayden of a stereotypical burglar, dark overalls, work gloves, a white undershirt, and that _stupid_ snow hat. The only moderately foreboding aspects about this floating man were that he was… well, floating, he was blue and emitted a light glow. His expression could only be described as power hungry and a little dopey as he gazed upon the crate of telescopes. However, what really shook Ayden out was that when the man entered the hall, a cool and sudden breeze washed over him, inducing a light shiver through his body. As if he _produced_ cold air.

Steven was shaking in fear. But his hormone induced instincts forced him to try to remain dominant, and ended up saying something he hadn't meant to say, or more like squeak, "Wh-What are you supposed to be?…"

"What?" the figure suddenly shot a blank look at Steven, then thought for a moment, "Oh, did I forget? Whoops…" the man cleared his throat, then roared up to the heavens, "I AM… THE BOX GHOOOOST! And I give you my thanks, human, for you have _presented_ me with one of the finest boxes I have ever seen! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

"A… ghost?" Ayden whispered to himself still around the corner. He awaited his fear to wash over him… but it never came. His emotions seemed to be obsessing with something else, overwhelming fear entirely. And it at last hit him, "… 'Box' Ghost?" He dropped any defense that might have been in his position in disbelief, revealing himself from the corner and running to Steven's aid. He stepped in front of Steven and locked his eyes on the laughing spirit, "… 'BOX' Ghost?"

Box Ghost ceased is tyrannical laughter, observing the new human before him, displaying no fear whatever. Frustrated, he shouted at the impudence before him, "FOOLISH mortal! Do not attempt to hide your fear from… THE BOX GHOOOOST! It is futile, for I-"

Ayden raised a hand at last to silence the blathering specter, standing in front of Steven, "No-no-no. YOU shut the hell up. Are you serious? 'BOX' Ghost? Lemme get this straight: you're a ghost, so you can be anything you want, and you're 'The Box Ghost'? You could've been… The Shadow Specter, The Poltergeist of a Thousand Terrors… _The Phantom of the Opera_ if you wanted, for chrissake, you're a _ghost_, they can't sue you! Despite it all, you decided to be… 'The Box Ghost'. Is that what you're givin' me?"

Box Ghost raised a finger to angrily respond, but no sound came from his mouth. It took a long and awkward silence for him to timidly mutter, "Uhh… Beware?"

Ayden sighed, "Look, I've got better things to do than deal with you, alright? Why don't you go contemplate your… afterlife or something, and let this school be? C'mon Steven, let's get this thing to Entwood, I don't think he's much of a threat," he glanced over his shoulder to Steven.

Steven's face was paler than any ghost's could be. He hadn't heard a word since the ghost yelled at him apparently. Ayden couldn't help but see a dark spot forming down the front of his pants too. With a very womanly scream, Steven scampered away down the hall.

"Heh, and I wasn't going to make him go through with the bet!" he returned to the side of the crate and began pushing it down the hall, the plywood sliding along the tile floor nicely, his head uncaringly bumping the foot of the dumbstruck entity hovering overhead.

Box Ghost looked back at the human pushing away the marvelous square object. 'Did he just… mock… The Box Ghost?' he thought furiously. He reared back and thrust his arms at the fleeting box, invoking his power over all containers, cardboard, and, yes, crates, and levitated it into the air, past the pathetic mortal, and over his hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" Ayden clenched his fists. But at this point, he could clearly see that Box Ghost now brandished a dangerous weapon, and any demand in his words was pure bluff.

Fire burned in Box Ghost's eyes, "YOU DARE MOCK THE BOX GHOST? FEEBLE HUMAN, FEEL MY PLYWOODED WRATH!" thrusting his hands forward, the crate was launched down the hall in a straight line, Ayden in its path.

"Eep," Ayden dropped, straight to the floor, flat on his stomach. The crate flew past and into a wall at a left turn in the hall, exploding in a cloud of telescopes, dust and debris. Ayden recovered, and grinned smugly at Box Ghost, "Feheh. Guess you can cross 'Apparition of Accuracy' of your things-to-be list. And by the way, 'ply wooded wrath'? Come on…" The Box Ghost cried out in rage, charging with fists out, "Eep again," Ayden sprinted at the cloud of dust with roughly half an idea of what he was doing. All he really knew was he had to get rid of this guy. With a fuming spirit closing in, he leapt into the cloud.

Box Ghost squinted as he entered the cloud of dust slowly settling upon the pile of telescopes, searching carefully for his prey. Even he wasn't that stupid, "Hahahaha… do you truly think you can escape The Box Ghost? Foolish child, nowhere is safe for you now!" pieces of the crate, sharpened by the break, levitated into the air as hovering plywood daggers, "No matter where you run, no matter where you hide, The Box Ghost will hunt you down, and hermetically seal your fate, and ship it… TO IT'S DOOM!" he might have had more to say, but was cut short by a sharp metallic blow to the side of his head, causing the wood to fall back to the ground, and sending him head over ass out of the cloud, tumbling to a halt seven feet away. Maybe he was that stupid.

Ayden emerged from the now almost settled cloud of dust, a huge, obvious grin plastered on his face and hands behind back, "Wow. Long winded speeches, third person point of view, arrogance, misinterpreting your enemy's motives, inability to pay attention to your surroundings, _box_ puns, and here I am, just making things up as I go. As far as evil villains go, do you know how much help you need?"

Box Ghost was baffled at this turn of events. Not only had a mere human struck him, but continued to mock him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something shine behind Ayden. He was holding something back there, obviously metallic. With this knowledge, a calm spread over his ghostly form. He rubbed his head where Ayden struck him and stood confidently, grinning back at his adversary, "Heheh…I'll admit to underestimating you. You are indeed a formidable human. However! No matter how powerful the human, without a superior weapon, a human can never defeat a ghost…" Box Ghost reared back and launched himself at Ayden, flying superman style, "… And a telescope is NOT a superior weapon!"

A white gas sprayed forth from behind Ayden with a hiss, down between his legs and at the floor, creating another low visibility cloud that the Box Ghost couldn't stop from flying into and only attacking air, 'AND he has no knowledge of school regulations, which clearly state there must be a fire extinguisher at every hallway turn!' Ayden thought as he ducked beneath the attack, "Telescope? Entwood would remove my manhood if I wrecked one of those!" with both hands on the hose of the improvised mace, swung down over his head, blowing away much of the gas, and the metallic bludgeon once again connected with the spectral cranium of The Box Ghost with a satisfying **_CLANG_**. He couldn't see clearly himself in the cloud, so instead of trying to see if Box Ghost was down, he swung back for another blow. The force of the swing blew away the remaining carbon dioxide, revealing a grim, unfazed form glaring into Ayden's eyes.

"Do you really believe your pathetic human strength can affect me?" The Box Ghost smugly queried.

So, there Ayden stood, frozen with a fire extinguisher slowly swinging behind his back, eyes wide as he stared into the face that had just declared itself immune to human strength. And Ayden's strength was as human as it came. 'Hoo boy. What do I do now?' he thought. Box Ghost's fists curled, mouth grinned evilly, body hovered, and eyes…

…rolled into the back of his head.

The Box Ghost collapsed, retaining his expression, but his body going completely limp. Where he should have struck the floor, what appeared to be a silver ripple of energy appeared around the area his body made contact with, and he vanished through it, leaving an odd silence in the hall.

Still frozen, Ayden looked around moving his eyes only, trying to register this strange turn of events. He tapped his foot cautiously against the floor where the Box Ghost had vanished. Satisfied that he'd just won, he let the extinguisher fall to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck, "Kaaaay… Didn't see that coming… Phew!" the renewed silence in the hall brought his attention to a new sound approaching his ears: running footsteps, and a lot of them. He looked behind him to see who they were when they arrived, but double-took to the scene in front of him, a huge pile of telescopes and destroyed plywood at the foot of a row of lockers bent inward from the impact. Hesitating only long enough to briefly wonder why people were arriving _now_ of all times, he said under his breath, "Oh-hoho, the hell with _this_…" and took off in the other direction.

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Outside, another ghost, hovering high in the air and invisible, had had a good laugh watching the brief show, courtesy of a pair of binoculars equipped with the function of seeing through walls. His robotic face curled into a grin at the thought of that boneheaded Box Ghost lying in the basement of the building, unconscious. That was when the concept dawned on him: A human had defeated a ghost.

'Hmmmm… well, it's not unprecedented. That pesky "Valerie the Ghost Hunter" is human, and then there's…' the ghost growled at the smug, green eyed child who entered his mind, 'but this human has no special abilities or weapons. No matter how… low standing the ghost, this human was able to triumph using only his wit. Hmmmm…' he looked back into his binoculars, finding the still running teen, now ducking and dodging past other students who had begun running to the scene, and running a vital scan, '… Huh. Good marks in stamina and reflex I suppose, but other than that… I'll need a more accurate scan to see what sets him apart from his peers. Of course, that will require getting closer…' he saw Ayden finally meet up with two people he assumed to be friends, and his vital measurements began to regulate in the calm.

"I'll give him a few hours," the ghost finally said aloud, eyes narrowing, "Wouldn't be healthy for him to be hunted right after a fight. He could very well help me learn more about the Whelp. At the very least, he could make an interesting addition to my collection: A human beyond ghosts."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Faust stirred in his sleep, his bed covers long ago kicked off the bed, "No…. Not… her…. Get away…. GET AWAY!" he awoke on those words in a cold sweat, though only wearing boxers. He dried it with a towel he kept by his bed calmly, this procedure being routine for him. Also, when his breathing calmed, he picked up a remote control next to the towel and twisted a knob. A radar screen popped up, revealing no blips. He sighed and stood.

He could never remember the dreams after he woke, but from the residual emotions that lingered, and could easily guess what they were. Fear, hate, sorrow, and pretty much just overwhelming pain. He knew exactly what event in his life epitomized those concepts, but tried to keep it as far from his mind as he could. He guessed that in his sleep, his mind disobeyed his control and wandered forbidden realms that he locked away, his sorrows, his pains, his weakness….

Faust got dressed and checked the radar again. It still revealed no blips. He huffed angrily and left his room. His living room was unchanged, making him angrier. He checked the clock on the wall. 9:19.

'Huh… I think I'll skip class today. I've got better things to learn about right here.'

Faust put some bread in the toaster and got out some peanut butter. He usually ate the two together to as a nearly complete vital ration so if he didn't eat anything else while distracted by his work, he would he didn't really need much else. While he waited for the toast, he rebooted his laptop.

"Alright, let's see," he brought up the Fentonworks site again, "Any comments on the night of the class reunion at Master's Mansion?" he found the link he wanted, 'Ghostly Encounters Firsthand', by Jack Fenton.

'Well, it was a dark and stormy night, and as everyone did the pogo to the music of my youth, I felt something amiss. Suddenly, I felt something odd on my back. It was like a cold gas entering my skin. I blacked out, and when I came too, I saw carnage, the room destroyed by the ghost, using my body to do it! I still feel bad for my buddy Vlad that I couldn't break the ghosts hold on me sooner. I ran through the living room to get to my assault vehicle, only to find my wife already driving it. (Great minds think alike, eh?) Together we drove to where radar tracked the ghost, and ended up in Vlad's library where I saw it for the first time, a ghost that looked just like a vampire. Before I could do anything, it reached through the roof of the RV and phased Maddie through it, and took her away. He was mocking me! I leaped out of the RV and tried to grab for her, but he held her just out of reach. I don't know what happened next, I seemed to black out again, but this time in a state of righteous fury. The next thing I knew, the ghost was vanishing in a painful exertion of green smoke and my wife held me from behind me, unharmed…'

There was more, but Faust stopped reading and leaned back, "This doesn't add up… no, not by a long shot. There has to be more to it or he has to be lying… he couldn't have beaten a ghost with his bare hands while in a blackout…" he began to search for profiles on the Jack, hoping to find out more about him. "'Fenton Family Profiles', that should do. Let's see, Jack, Jack, Ja-"

Faust froze. Everything in him went dead for a split second, including the function that kept his jaw up. Right between the pictures of Jazz Fenton and Maddie Fenton, he saw a picture of someone he knew.

"No way," Faust clicked on the picture of the raven haired boy, "My… my eyes are going… that's it, my eyes are going from doing this all night, and it's a pretty small picture, right?" Faust's laptop lagged on the load, and he began to click rapidly, "It's just my eyes, it's just my eyes, it's just-LOAD ALREADY!" he shouted.

On command, the profile loaded into a three-paragraphed profile on the boy with an enlarged picture of him, waving timidly as if he didn't really wasn't to be on camera. Faust's eyes were perfectly fine.

"What… what's his name…" he searched the top of the page. 'Danny Fenton.' His name was _Danny Fenton!_ "No way… this can't be… there is no way… no way! It can't be the Fenton kid!"

Danny Fenton, he didn't know that was his name, but now that he knew it, he wondered through his surprise how no one had pieced it together before. He felt dizzy…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

…_Ayden wondered why Phantom had left, as well as why this monster had changed his sights to a regular human. But he had no time to speculate…_

"…_Human. You know, I've had some stubborn opponents in my time, but you… _both_ of you… on one hand, I've got a half-ghost that has no end to his little tricks and techniques, and then… there's _you_. A mere… human…"_

…_He looked like hell. His mouth and head were bleeding, his clothes bore tears all over, bruises and bumps abundant…_

"…_Heheh. I don't need to beat it, but there are a few people that I have to make sure outlive me…" _

_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

Faust shook his head. He had to stop doing that. He didn't let the past interfere with the present, that was a principle he lived by.

But it was pretty hard right that particular second. 'The son of Jack Fenton is… how!' before his thoughts went anywhere else, he heard a beep.

No matter how amazed Faust was, it was all overridden right then. He checked the radar remote, just to make sure. A blip appeared again on the screen. He was astounded.

_Beep-_1500 yards… _Beep-_1400 yards…

"Yes… Yes! YES, IT WORKED!" Faust proclaimed excitedly. Leaving his previous discovery for later, he ran to the door and locked it, wanting no distractions. His eyes found the gun on the couch, the EPCC protruding from its rear, and grinned darkly.

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"It's near… I feel it…" the ghost said to itself, feeling ever warmer, fuzzier as he approached. He flew through the air, driven by a hungry urge, "There…" his eyes fell upon the apartment building, "It's in there…" he flew through the wall of the second story. His eyes wandered absently, not sure of exactly what he was looking for himself. He saw it on a desk. A small, beautiful, ivory, carven, gold-specked, Chinese, handcrafted, fifty five in the world, 1956...

"…BOX!" Box Ghost cried happily, moving to touch the marvelous object. Only one such as he could be worthy of such a relic. His hand reached out for it.

"Hello Box Ghost."

Box Ghost averted his gaze to the other side of the room. He saw a teen with a green shirt with two stripes across the chest, long black shorts that reached the middle of his calves, and hair that draped down over his right eye. His arms crossed, each hand sporting a gun. He glared poisonously at the bumbling specter.

"YOU!" the ghost shouted, pointing. He hung in the air over the desk, "……Do I know you?" he scratched his head, "You look a little familiar, but, uh…."

Faust closed his eyes and lowered his head, "Three months back. Big crate. Got the crap kicked out of you."

"YOU!" he repeated, pointing again, "Ha-hah! It seems I have found two prizes in one day! This box among boxes, and my CORRUGATED CARDBOARD VENGEANCE!"

"Shut up," Faust stated, raised his head again, his eyes burning with resolve, "I got enough of your speeches the last time we met. You're not here to get a prize, I called you."

"What? You mean…" Box Ghost put up his guard, wary of the boy's abilities. The last time they met he was defeated... and frankly, if word got out in the Ghost Zone, he could never show his face the around other ghosts again… not that he really could now, but….

"I knew you would come for something like this, all I had to do was put it near you. You were the easiest to trap, being so obsessive…. It's time to pay, ghost."

"Pay?" Box Ghost pointed angrily, "What do I deserve as compared to what you _delivered_ to me?"

"Yes, you're right about that. But when you attacked that day, you started something… you created a chain reaction that ruined my life. You destroyed my reality that day."

"I did?" Box Ghost scratched his head, but suddenly perked up cheerfully, "How? OH, this will make great for my reputation in the Ghost Zone!" he bounced happily in the air, "How did it happen, how?"

Faust had thought he'd seen a glimmer of redemption, but he was wrong and that was fine with him. He unfolded his arms and aimed both weapons at him.

"What? What are those? Oh, I get it," the foolhardy apparition cleared his throat, "_Foolish human!_ I will NOT fall for such a scheme again! I underestimated you in our last meeting, but this time…" Box Ghost became intangible and smirked, "You will face the _true_ wrath of…" he reared back, hands above head, "_THE BOX GHOOOOOOOST!"_

Faust chose not to remember why he found this so humorous. The past may _not_ interfere with the present. Faust pulled the trigger of the weapon toting the EPCC. The room lit up for a split second as a quick shot of blue lightning was unleashed from the barrel, striking the intangible Box Ghost.

At first, he just floated there blankly. He became tangible, slowly floated to the floor and collapsed. His eyes lay open, wandering. Faust knelt down next to him and opened his desk drawer contently.

"What have you done to me? Release me human, or you shall feel my…" Faust removed a wooden box from the drawer and set it next to the ghost, "Oh, so that's how it is? You're just going to mock me with more beautiful bo-" he silenced. Faust opened the box and revealed a scalpel and a container filled with test tubes.

"I've waited a long time for this," Faust stood and closed the blinds to his window, shadow enshrouding the room. He barred his teeth in an insidious grin, "You see, I'm going to be a ghost hunter!"

"Oh… well… that's a unique profession…" Box Ghost muttered. He tried going intangible, flying, _anything,_ but everything he tried to do he was incapable of doing. The weapon had done something to him.

Faust noticed the struggling on his face, "Oh, this?" he held up the gun, "I call it a Null-State Pulse Gun. It uses specially treated ectoplasm designed to neutralize other ectoplasmic particles temporarily. I wasn't sure if it would work, that's why I had this one in case!" he held up the other gun, the Pro 9, "No real name for this one, but its effects are a bit more…" he twirled it on his finger, "…damaging."

Box Ghost was silent. Somewhere in his subconscious, he knew he was pretty pathetic as a ghost. But he used that to his advantage so that no one, human, ghost or anyone in between would go out of their way to pursue him. Except now, it had backfired. And frankly, he was scared of this kid.

"But thankfully, I didn't have to use it. You should thank the engineering class I take at the junior college for being so good, 'cause you could have been in a lot of pain," Faust knelt down and picked up the scalpel. It gleamed in the dim light and Box Ghost's glow, "Well, a lot more pain. But to be a hunter, one must understand his prey, right? These devices were guesstimates and luck, but to _fully_ understand what I'm up against…" Faust grabbed the pudgy arm of Box Ghost and held it straight, "I need more resources."

Box Ghost tried to shout out a threat, but he found that even his voice was useless now. He couldn't move or use any of his powers; all he could do was watch.

The scalpel pierced the arm, revealing glowing green fluid. It dribbled out of the cut into a test tube Faust held under it. Faust was surprised to see the flesh regenerate almost immediately. Surprised 1, because the Pulse Gun hadn't neutralized all functions of the ectoplasm, or perhaps it was something not caused by ectoplasm at all, and 2, because while it answered a few questions, it raised a lot more. He made the incision a few more times to get a full seven test tubes of the blood-like fluid, and saw that on repeated cuts, the skin developed a scar. More questions arose. He sliced off a few cubes of flesh and secured them in test tubes, the arm regenerating again. By this time, Box Ghost had begun to stir.

Faust frowned, "Feeling better already? I knew there was _something _wrong with the Pulse Gun. But don't worry, the worst is over…."

Faust put the samples back into the box and rummaged through it again. He pulled out a wide glass tube that he twisted unto the handle of the Pulse Gun. He twisted a knob on the side, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I built in another feature into this one."

He placed the gun against Box Ghost's stomach and shot, but instead of blue lightning, it made a sound like that of a transformer shorting out, a deep electric shocking sound. Box Ghost jarred, and the glass tube began to fill with a purple mist.

"Oh, so for some reason, the color of ghost's energy varies from ghost to ghost! Interesting… here I was thinking it was all green…." Faust raised the bottle to his eyes and examined it closely. The mist of energy glowed and swirled in a circular motion, like a galaxy floating in the abyss of the universe.

Box Ghost took this opportunity of his distraction. With all the strength he could muster, he painfully leapt into the air and hovered there. He strained to do it, but managed to become intangible and attempt to fly through the wall. Faust dropped the NPG and snatched up the Pro 9. He took quick aim and fired three rounds, the silencer absorbing most of the sound. The bullets enshrouded in green energy ripped through the air, leaving a light green trail, and gouged into Box Ghost's back. The bullets passed right through him, but the energy cut into his intangible form, leaving gaping holes in his shoulder and back. But instincts had taken over, and he jetted through the wall without slowing and took to the skies, fearing what would happen if he looked back.

Faust lowered the Pro 9. Box Ghost got away. Even unbeknownst to himself, even though he got all the resources he needed, he truly wanted to destroy him. He did not acknowledge a lust for vengeance, as that was succumbing to the past. So he justified destroying him with the fact that since he, as of yet, could not contain a ghost, destroying him would prevent any other ghosts from finding out what he was doing and quicken his progress. But it didn't matter to him that much, for with the samples he had acquired, he could begin testing for the production of a ghost containment device. The only thing that slightly discouraged him from this event was that there were now three bullets lodged in his wall. Overall, it had been a complete success.

With his first breakthrough completed, he placed the test tubes on a rack along with the energy capsule. The box he'd stored his tools in also contained a microscope and several other tools of science. He placed it next to the samples. But in approaching his desk, his eyes again confronted the picture of the Fenton kid.

"So," he sighed and sat in his desk chair. He rummaged through the papers he had printed out the night before. He found a picture of ghost named Ember, taken at a concert by a spectator and submitted to the Fentons, doing battle with the famous and feared Danny Phantom, "What the hell is your story, kid?" he compared the two next to each other. Absolutely _no one_ must have ever done that before, or the facts of the matter would have been exposed long ago, "Was he serious? A 'half-ghost'? How the flip does _that_ work?"

Faust's thoughts were thrown off track as a familiar light scent caught on his nostril, "Hey! I forgot the most important part of my research!" he jumped out of his chair and sped into the kitchen, where his toast had finished and unfortunately cooled, and the peanut butter had softened. He shrugged and contently began spreading the peanut butter on the browned bread.

"Well, I owe you one Phantom, so whether or not you're a ghost or a human or something in between, I guess I can sidestep you for now."

_Meanwhile…_

"Lancer actually gave me a B!" Danny exclaimed as he and his friends left English class for lunch.

"Way to go Danny!" Tucker cheered as he opened his locker, "This is the first time you really did so well in the same night that a serious ghost attacked since the whole ghost king thing! …_And_ you missed your curfew!"

"Jeez, when you say it like that…" Danny's expression saddened as he opened his locker.

"Danny, I don't think he meant it like that. I think he means you're getting a lot better at this," Sam said in her mood rousing way. She stated firmly, "I do."

Danny removed his face from his messy locker, an eyebrow raised, "You do?"

"Of course! You can Dupe now, you're getting better at your Ghostly Wail, you can fly at… how fast was he last we checked Tucker?"

Tucker hit two buttons on his PDA and grinned, "159 miles per hour. Not to mention you're getting even stronger."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Danny placed his books in his locker and the three began toward the cafeteria.

"Look at yourself fight once in a while. When you hit something, it goes a lot farther than it use to. Your strength as a human and a ghost is increasing, dude."

"Huh… come to think of it, Star was in that group of Phantom fans, and she said something that sounded like 'cut and defined'…" Danny glanced around nervously and looked down at his abdomen where he felt _something_ touch, "Think she was talking about me?"

Sam's eyes widened, "Oh, don't tell me _she's_ after Danny Phantom too!" Sam's face twisted into an enraged scowl, being forced to think of Paullina, "Who's next, Valerie?"

"What's Valerie next for?" came a voice that infuriated Sam, put Tucker on guard, and in this case only, lightly pleased Danny.

"Hi Val," Danny said friendlily, turning to greet her, "Sam was just talking about how many girls are starting to talk a lot about Danny Phantom and how annoying it is."

Both of his friends looked at him as if he belonged in an asylum, but after thinking it through for a second, couldn't see any threat in what he said. Valerie looked like she wanted to strangle someone.

"What? Me, like a _ghost_? That's just… JUST-!" Danny interrupted her.

"I know! And therein lies the irony!" he said laughing, "We know you aren't too fond of ghosts, so…" Danny waited for her to get it.

"…Oh. Oh, I get it. A-hahahahaha! Yeah, imagine me, gossiping with the other girls about Danny Phantom! Hah!" Valerie laughed happily, wiping a tear from her eye, "Good one Sam."

"Hehe, yeah…" Sam couldn't quite make eye contact with her, or Danny, for that matter. The way he acted so confidently around her, so trusting of an enemy made her insides churn.

"So hey!" Valerie said suddenly, "You mind if I sit with you guys today? I've been feeling kinda… I mean it's kinda monotonous sitting alone every lunch… And you said you'd make a spot for me, right?"

"Sure!" Danny said quickly as his other friends opened their mouths to recite an excuse, "Right guys?"

"Yeah…" they said defeated. They walked into the cafeteria, leaving Danny and Valerie alone. They couldn't deny that she had posed little threat to Danny thus far when neither of them was in their ghost hunting suits, but they couldn't help feeling concerned for him

"Why don't they like me?" Valerie asked softly, "I've tried to be nice to them, but it's like they just refuse to give me a chance!" she looked away sadly.

"Uh…" Danny wanted to say something, but he couldn't quite find the words. If he explained the real situation, she would probably stare blankly, say 'Oh.' in an understanding way, and then blow his ass away with that wrist-rocket from hell.

"Well, I think the way you treated Tucker kind of had an impact on them both… you know, kinda used him and abused him? I mean, I could understand why you did it, you wanted to find out about ghosts from him after they ruined your life, right?"

Valerie blinked in surprise, "How did you know that?"

"Tucker told me," Danny smiled, "He might not look it, but he knew you were using him. He was just in denial. I guess it would have been better if you hadn't used him like that, but you know, I understand."

"So Tucker doesn't like me 'cause I used him, and Sam… what's her problem?"

"W-well…" Danny didn't have an answer, really. She just seemed to hate all girls, Paullina, Star, Valerie, but aside from protecting his secret, he couldn't think of much other reason, "I guess… she just feels inclined to agree with Tucker! Yeah…." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Really? She's just defending Tucker?" Valerie eyed him thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I-I mean, I can't think of anything else, I've never really asked her…."

'Phew… at least he's still clueless…. I wonder how long it'll last?' she thought sadly.

Danny pulled at his collar, hoping to let some air in, "Ah, so! Wanna get some lunch now?"

She smiled her answer and he opened the cafeteria door for her, but suddenly jarred, "Oh crud, I just remembered…"

"What?"

"I left my lunch money in my English book as a bookmark. I gotta go back," Danny started back down the hall, looking back at Valerie, "Think you can handle yourself alone for a second with Sam and Tuck?"

Valerie blinked, unsure of herself, "Well, I could go with you…"

"Are you kidding? It's Friday!" Danny laughed, "The only day they serve pizza? Get a decent meal before it's all gone!"

"But…" she rose a hand after him.

Danny was now jogging down the hall, "Just, uh, don't make any sudden movements around them! They'll sense your fear…"

Valerie giggled, newly reassured, "Alright Danny, see you," she disappeared into the lunch area.

Danny watched her go as he strode. He wished Technus hadn't been so good at matchmaking, or maybe things could have worked out a little better between them. He'd become his No.2 enemy next to Vlad, and always made sure to give a few more punches than necessary when capturing him.

His thoughts were cut short as a wall that wasn't there before hit him. Or something similar… 'Oh boy…' Danny thought worriedly.

"Hey _Fen-ton._ Guess what?"

"What is it Dash?" Danny slumped, bored.

"I forgot my lunch money today, and you know what that means!" Dash grabbed Danny's collar, "Where is it?" he growled.

'Oh, I've been waiting for this,' Danny struggled not to smile. He pulled out his pockets and shrugged, "Sorry Dash, I'm broke today too! Guess you'll have to go beat up some other weak and defenseless freshman that isn't me for your lunch today."

"Hah! You're half right, Fen-toni. I will beat up someone else for my money, but for now…" he reared his fist back. Danny pretended to grit his teeth and look away, but for those who looked closely enough, the grit was easily distinguished as a smile.

A glowing gloved hand grabbed Dash's fist. He craned his neck to see who had stopped him from venting his issues on his favorite punching bag, and dropped Danny immediately when he saw who.

"Leave him alone!" Danny Phantom declared heroically, "What gives you the right to hurt those smaller and weaker than you?"

"Uh… the fact that they're smaller and weaker?" Dash shrugged stupidly. Fenton held back a snickering fit.

"Ugh… so that's it," Phantom smacked his forehead, "Look," he pointed his finger in Dash's face, "If I see you hurting anyone else, you'll end up looking like that ghost I thrashed last night, got it Baxter?"

"Uh, yes Mr. Phanto… wait! How'd you know my last name was Baxter?" Dash took a step back.

Fenton gasped in unison with Phantom, "Wh-what do you mean?"

"I'm sure, I never told you my last name! How would you know that?"

Phantom looked to Fenton for an answer, but obviously, if one didn't have an answer…

Phantom fidgeted, and before he had an idea of what he was saying, began to speak, "Um, I-uh… I'm… friends with… Danny Fenton there! He told me all about you!" Phantom stated strongly.

Fenton nearly threw up. Count on himself to say something stupid like that to Dash of all people. Fenton smacked his forehead this time, and Phantom shrugged nervously to him.

"R-really? I… I'm sorry Mr. Phantom, I won't hurt anyone anymore, don't you worry!" Dash smiled and pulled Fenton in a one armed bone-crushing hug.

Phantom mirror winced Fenton, "Right, see that you don't," he turned in the air, "But now I have a lot _more_ to worry about from you…" he said to himself, "Stupid, _stupid!_"

Phantom turned invisible and floated back into Fenton, who had gotten free of Dash's attempts to show his change in lifestyle. When only one Danny remained, Dash turned back to him, looking like… _sigh…_ like he'd seen a ghost.

"Why didn't you tell me you were friends with Phantom? Do you know what that could mean for you?" Dash shook Danny's shoulders, "You could be popular again! With a friend like that, you could be-"

Danny threw up his arms, knocking Dash's away, "I don't care about being popular Dash. I don't want to hang out with you and Quan, it doesn't matter to me anymore," he glared into Dash's eyes, "And as far as Phantom, he… he exaggerated," Danny turned away, "We're not really friends or anything, we… we just met once, uh, the night that pirate ship attacked , yeah! So… we're acquaintances, but not really friends…."

"Don't be so modest!" Dash smacked him on the back, making Danny lurch, "What matters is that _he_ considers you a friend! And besides, you might not want to hang out with me or Quan, but what about _Paullina_, huh?"

"Uh… Paullina?" Danny had already kicked himself for missing a chance to hang out with Paullina as Danny Phantom the night before, but now….

"Well, you think on it Fento-er, Danny-no… Dan! Dan…" Dash thought for a second, "…the man! Dan the Man! I'll tell Paullina you're friends with Phantom, if you want!" Dash strode into the cafeteria, flagging down his usual posse, and piecing together why Danny Phantom had blasted him with a shrink ray on the suggestion of giving Danny a swirly last time they met.

Danny was stuck. He was being accepted into the popular ranks, yet again, this time willingly by Dash, for something he could back up this time. He could keep up appearances for once, now able to produce a Duplicate. But….

"No way. I'm not betraying my friends again. I can't do it. Even for Paullina, I can't sell out for the populars again. Nope, I've got friends that outshine them a million times and I'm not changing that for them or anyone else."

Danny put his hands in his pockets and trudged to his locker, 'The only thing I'm changing is the control I have over my stupid duplicates….'

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"Hey, I just realized, Danny's gone AWOL!" Tucker said through a bite of his sandwich, "What do you think happened to-" Sam raised a finger to his mouth as she listened to something behind her.

"…So yeah, I think we should take Fenton back. Know why?" Dash proclaimed to all that sat at his table.

"I _still_ say I don't remember letting that loser into our group. What could have possibly changed now?" Paullina whined as she filed her nails.

"Well, I don't mind Fenton, as long as he doesn't take my place again!" Quan interjected, munching a Sloppy Joe.

"Ugh, _Fenton_…" Star said from reading her book. She _couldn't_ eat during lunch, it could daunt her figure, "That kid bugs me…."

"Anyone else want to give their opinions before I say why?" Dash queried and crossed his arms. The remaining jocks in their matching letterman jackets looked at each other before turning back to Dash, "Good. It's because I just found out that Fenton's friends with Danny Phantom!"

From an overhead view, one could see four people jump/gasp/lurch/choke at the same time, Star, Paullina, Sam and Tucker. Tucker's hacking on bologna elicited glances from the popular table before turning back to their own business.

"Danny knows… Danny?" Paullina exclaimed loud enough for the whole room to hear, but since it sounded so weird, no one thought much of it.

"Oh… my… GOSHAREYOUSERIOUS?" Star threw her book up as she stood and landing in some poor nerds chili bowl, pelting him with barely edible stew.

"Whoa! You sure!" Quan stood too, not quite as amazed but pretty surprised.

"Of course! Phantom just stopped me from beating Fenton up!" Dash grumbled.

An unopened juice box exploded by the grip of a certain goth that will remain nameless on those words.

"Dude, he stopped you? What a goodie-goodie!" a random red-haired jock decreed laughing.

Dash picked up a cup of pudding from a table behind him and launched it in his face. It exploded on his head and pelted the kid behind him too, the same nerd whose presence was graced by Star's book, "Can it, Chad!" he roared, "Phantom is the coolest, and if he thinks that Fenton is cool enough to be his friend, then he's cool enough to hang with us! With Fenton, we might even be able to hang out with Phantom! Get it?"

All subjects agreed at the table except Chad, who was deep in silent glare, and Star, who was in deep thought.

"You know… by normal popularity process, isn't this something that Danny himself should milk publicly, the gossip spreads to us, and then we accept him upon certain terms like when he went out with Paullina?" Star questioned Dash.

"I told you, I was possessed by a ghost!" Paullina shrieked.

Dash sighed and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but I thought we'd just skip the standard procedure for once and get to the point."

All heads nodded again, except Chad.

Valerie suddenly strode up to Danny and co.'s table, carrying a tray of school lunch.

"Am I hearing this right? Are they… Sam? You okay?" she noticed Sam furiously twisting a sticky juice box in her fists. She was still listening to only them.

"So! Fenton seems a little reluctant to join from what happened last time, so let's just all act cool to him around school until he comes around. Paullina, I think you know where _you_ come in," Dash leaned against the table and raised an eyebrow.

"Heehee! But of course!" she waved modestly.

"Ohhh, I'm going to _kill_ him…" she glowered at the door, awaiting him to enter the lunch room, "He's gone too far this time…."

"What is it Sam? Why are they talking about making Danny a popular again?" she took a seat next to Tucker, who didn't particularly mind her presence, but shifted away from her anyway to avoid getting blood on him.

"Oh! Valerie!" Sam tossed away the juice box and smiled pleasantly at her, "When did you get here?"

"About the time you started torturing the corpse of that defenseless juice box. When did _you_ get here?" she asked quizzically.

Danny abruptly pushed the cafeteria door open. Everything went silent and, since most people listened in on Dash's table to gather gossip, virtually all eyes fixed on him.

Danny looked around and frowned, "What?"

The spectators returned to their conversations, all but Danny's own table. Danny eyed them and started to the lunch line.

"You think Danny would really do that?" Tucker whispered to Sam while Valerie was still watching Danny.

"I hope not, for his sake I reeeeeeeeally hope not," her gaze was petrifying as Medusa's on Danny's back, and he shuddered beneath it, "But it sure is looking like the good ol' days…"

"No kidding! I thought he was kinda slipping away from Paullina, but-"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, what was that?" Sam asked with a volume loud enough for Valerie to hear, but stopped caring, "Why would you think that?"

Tucker smirked, "Girls always talk about their flawless intuition, but between guys, there are some things that girls can never see like we can."

Valerie and Sam raised an eyebrow to each other, "Oh, hormonal telepathy?" Sam asked.

"Exactly!" Tucker said proudly. He thought for a second, "Hey! That's not what I mean!"

"Hey guys," Danny said with his food tray, "Is it cold in here?" he noticed Sam's unwavering glare, "Oh no, that's it. So I take it you overheard Dash?"

"Sit," Sam decreed grimly. Danny obeyed, taking a seat next to her.

"Dude, you turning traitor on us again?" Tucker blurted out.

"NO!" Danny slammed his fist on the table, "It was… an accident! I swear!"

"Is that so?" Sam glanced at Valerie, looking confused as hell, "Listen, could you excuse us for like, one minute? I don't want to reject you," she lied through her teeth, "but this is… kinda personal on Danny's part."

"Hmmm… if you say so…" the hunter left the table for the bathroom.

Sam watched her go plainly. Once she had left sight, she spun around and locked her fists on Danny's collar, "_Explain to me exactly what Dash saw! Did you 'accidentally' make a Duplicate in front of him that came out Danny Phantom? Don't go and tell me that after months of having a second head practicing, you're having trouble controlling it now!_" Sam whispered so harshly Danny feared she would burn his face with her words.

"Sam, I just wanted to stop him from trying to beat me up, and I thought a visit from Phantom would do the trick! But I guess I have some more work to do on-" the familiar blue vapor drifted from his mouth, pointing off to the east.

"Oh, for the love of-!" Sam shouted, drawing eyes to her, still holding Danny inches from her face. They blushed.

"Bad choice of words Sam," Tucker stated, "Maybe you should get off Danny and let him do his thing, that is, if you wanna keep up your little act."

Danny shot a surprised look at Tucker, "What? What's that mea-"

"He's right," Sam said quickly and let go of him, "Get going hero, but I want an explanation as soon as you get back, got it?"

Danny gave no answer and dashed through the cafeteria. As he passed the popular table, he froze in step at the table behind it.

"Hey Mikey. How's the chili today?" he casually asked the chili and pudding covered nerd.

"Improving… A little runny though…" he sighed routinely.

As Danny dashed through one of the double doors, Valerie came through the other, and missed her completely.

"Where's Danny going now?" she asked Sam.

"Uh… bathroom! The macaroni apparently didn't agree with his stomach!" she laughed nervously.

"Oh…" Valerie sat back down, making sure not to look too suspicious about Danny's untouched lunch tray.

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Danny realized as he soared through the skies of Amity that his ghost sense was leading him to the same warehouse where he fought Spectra the night before. The building came into sight, not looking half as foreboding as at night. He swooped in low and phased through the wall. Inside was lit by the sunlight and darkened by the residue of Danny rending Spectra into a hunk of black matter. A black ring adorned the floor and whatever else happened to get in Danny's way, resembling a crater from a meteorite impact.

Danny landed on the cold cement floor. He focused on his ghost sense again, allowing it to whisper from his mouth again. It drifted into the air and, before vanishing, pointed off to the left. Danny somersault flipped over the metal crate that barred his path and checked for any signs of a ghost. He didn't find a sign, he found a billboard.

A green trail of slime trailed across the floor, leading up to a crate. He had already had a feeling of who it was, but the trail threw him off completely. He phased through the crate.

"AAAAAAAHH! STAY BACK! I'M WARNING YOU!" a gloved finger pointed furiously.

"Box Ghost? What the-?"

He had never seen a ghost like this. Box Ghost huddled in the corner of the crate, reminding him a lot of Lindsey when she was cornered by Spectra. He cradled his arm over his chest as if injured. Dark rings hung around his eyes and his teeth chattered in unison with his profuse shaking. Danny hadn't wanted to help a ghost since the ghost king incident, but he definitely felt sympathetic enough to help Box Ghost now. He floated over to him and inspected him cautiously.

"Box Ghost, what happened to you?"

Box Ghost watched Danny float over him for a moment like watching his own doom approach. He realized it was only Phantom and calmed a little, "It… it was a ghost hunter! A human hunter!"

"Huh? You mean Valerie? Or the Fentons?"

"NO! It was a new hunter, hunter that-" Box Ghost coughed, and green fluid burst from his mouth.

Danny finally realized what the fluid was, "Whoa, Box Ghost, take it easy! What's wrong?"

He lowered his arm to reveal a gaping hole through his chest. It oozed the green blood that ran through all ghostly veins. Danny gasped in horror.

"Box Ghost…" Danny inspected the wound. The walls of the hole were blackened and burnt, and it wasn't healing, "Why won't it heal? What happened?"

"Heh," Box Ghost sneered, "What _didn't_ happen? He lured me to his lair with the most beautiful box the world over, and _sealed_ me in his trap. He shocked me into a Null-State, as he called it, that rendered my powers useless. Then he slashed apart my arm and took samples. _Samples_, as in my blood and skin!" Danny noticed his arm now sported a deep dark scar, and was lined with many lighter ones in the shape of squares where skin was taken, "Next, he used a device that sucked away my energy."

"That must be it. You don't have the energy to heal through the burnt flesh," Danny knew enough about his parent's tech to know that the energy used to make this kind of wound was a very crude energy, very unstable, but very strong.

"And to _wrap_ it up, when I tried to escape, he did this to me. And if you think this one's bad, there are two more on my back that didn't go all the way through! This hunter is different from the ones you and I must deal with. This one, he's…."

"He's out for blood," Danny touched the green blood, collecting it on his gloved finger, inspecting it, "Damn, you think you'll be alright on your own?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK GHOST PUNK?" he ended in a coughing fit that resulted in more blood bursting from his mouth.

Danny held up his hands defensively, "Calm down Box Ghost, I want to help you!"

His coughing ceased and he looked up wearily, "You do?…"

"Duh, I'm the good guy. And the good guys are supposed to help everyone, even the bad guys when they're in _this_ bad a shape," Danny charged green energy at his hands, "So you think if I gave you some energy, you could heal yourself?"

"Are you stupid? Your energy cannot mix with mine! It's green!" Box Ghost looked disgusted and insulted.

"What? I don't think this is the time to be picky pal," Danny lowered his hands.

"Oh, wait, that's right, you're not _really _a ghost. You wouldn't know that the colors of energies are like blood types, and different colors cannot mix," he laid his head against the wall. The yelling was sapping his remaining strength.

"Oh… Well, then do you have any ideas?" Danny asked impatiently.

"…" Box Ghost looked at Danny's hands warily before answering, "Your ectoplasmic beam…."

"Huh? What could my Ghost Ray do? Believe it or not, I don't want to hurt you for once," he looked ponderously at his hand, glowing green.

"But… if you shot it through the wound, it could break apart the burnt area and I could heal on my own from there. Unless of course, you have a can of purple ghost energy in your pocket," Box Ghost spat.

"What? That's got to be the craziest plan I ever heard! And I read my dad's blueprints…!"

"Well breaking it apart by hand will be too slow! And painful…" he looked away, his eyelids becoming heavier.

"Alright, alright! Just stay with me dude!" Danny shouted, snapping the ghost back to reality. Danny charged a bright green orb at his fingertip, "But are you sure about this? It might just burn you more, and I could always miss…."

Box Ghost chuckled painfully at the ghost boy's naivety, "Pure ghost energy is far purer than anything humans can produce, and far more stable. Your power, and I know from experience, is more force than friction, and as far as your aim… I don't think that's an issue. You've always hit your target before!"

Danny stared at Box Ghost for a minute, 'Wow. He's actually pretty brave. I always thought he was just another cowardly punching bag…' Danny slowly raised his straightened arm, "Well, I'm still not sure about this, but if you're ready…."

Box Ghost slowly nodded, never taking his eyes off the ghost boy.

Danny focused hard on the hole he aimed for. It was true, if he could be called anything by title, it would be Ghostly Marksman. He rarely missed his shot, but now that he was challenged….

Danny grit his teeth and unleashed the green energy in a solid straight beam, traveling flawlessly through the air and into the Box Ghosts chest. It ripped through the flesh and the metal behind it, exploding at the floor behind it. Box Ghost froze in agony, and fell to the floor of the crate, unconscious. Danny flew to his aid and caught him in an arm.

"Box Ghost! You okay? Say something!" Danny shook him with his free hand. Though he didn't move, he saw the wound through his frame cease the bleeding and slowly close, leaving a slightly darker patch of skin.

"Phew, it worked! If he died _again_…" Danny eyed the sleeping spirit with curiosity, laying him on the floor face down to inspect the other wounds, "I wonder what would happen?"

Knowing both the human world and the ghost world, Danny often contemplated the outcome of death itself. He knew that if you died, you become a ghost. But did it happen to everyone? Was there another place that the deceased visit, aside from the Ghost Zone? Could there really be a heaven and hell as depicted in so many religions, and the Ghost Zone was just… something else? And with the very humanistic nature of ghosts, they too were capable of the trademark feat of mortals called death. But if they were already dead, or perhaps in a better term, had died once, then what became of them if they were to die again? Danny had more than once racked his fifteen year old brain for the answers, far lacking the knowledge to even begin to analyze the question. But no matter how many ghosts he fought and defeated, no matter how many ghosts and humans for that matter wanted to destroy him, it would never be his intention to kill a ghost or a human. Defeat, trap, and send away, that was how he did it and always would. This was because he feared the small part that he had already analyzed.

'Not everything that dies turns into a ghost. It's easy to see that much, otherwise the Ghost Zone would be absolutely crammed with dead guys. Fright Knight would be hanging with all his round-table buddies, Ember would be getting tips from Elvis, and I'd already have met my great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa Cornelius Fenton who invented dirt or something, but apparently, that isn't how it works. Instead, it seems a select few go to the Ghost Zone, while others… I dunno. Something else happens to the rest. But if a ghost died… it might have a different fate than whatever the others have, already being dead. If they're already in an afterlife, what happens _after that?…_'

Danny feared the part after that. He feared the word he had to use to describe the destination that seemed a probable fate for the death of the dead.

Oblivion. _Nothingness._

To be unable to feel, see, hear, _think._ To be ripped entirely away from the concept of existence. Some think it is the fate of human death, but if ghosts exist, that isn't likely. Even for those that don't become ghosts. But to die in an afterlife….

And that was all he had. After that, he hit a roadblock and his mind trailed off to something else. He just hoped that heaven and hell were open to ghosts and humans alike and began to think about Paullina in a bathing suit or something.

Or in this case, he shook his head and cursed himself for letting the Box Ghost keep bleeding from his back. He knelt down and began prodding the burnt flesh with energy on his finger, breaking it apart until the wounds were closed and healed. Box Ghost showed signs of life, but didn't awake when he was healed.

Danny felt great relief in that he wouldn't be sending anyone to meet the fate he feared so much. That is, until he realized how long he'd been out of school.

"Oh man… Box ghost is safe, but Lancer's gonna kill _me_ again…." Danny checked Box Ghost once more. He seemed to be peacefully sleeping now, perhaps what ghosts do when they regain energy, 'I guess it was worth it. You owe me one dude.'

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Mr. Lancer looked up from his roll sheet and scanned the room. His eyes narrowed on Sam and Tucker, "Mr. Foley, Mrs. Manson, may I ask if you have any idea where Mr. Fenton is?"

"Uhhhh… You may… not?" Tucker asked more than said. Sam smacked forehead and sighed grimly.

"Actually, I may," Lancer strode up to Tucker's desk, "I saw you talking to him when he ran off. He looked… frantic. So," he bent down and got in Tucker's face, "so what happened, hm?"

Sam and Tucker smiled at Lancer nervously, having forgotten to devise an alibi for their Houdini of a friend. Even they didn't know exactly where he was now.

Danny suddenly burst through the door, "Uh, Mr. Fenton ate today's dessert and had to make an emergency trip to the bathroom!" he said panting, pretending to hold his stomach.

Lancer looked back surprised and narrowed his eyes, "Is that so, Mr. Fenton?" he thought for a moment, "Oh… I see. The dessert… well, that explains it…" Lancer cleared his throat awkwardly, "…this time. Take your seat Danny," he walked uncomfortably back to the head of the class. He of course knew that the food in the cafeteria was less than passing on the health inspection standards, so he had to be lenient with the complications, lest he risk a lawsuit. But more importantly, risk his bonus….

All three friends sighed in relief. Danny sat in front of Sam. He knew he would have to face her sometime.

She whispered to him, "So who was it?"

"Box Ghost," he replied. He leaned back in his chair, exhausted.

There was a silence between them briefly, "_You skipped out for _that?" she harshly whispered.

"Sam, calm down. I'll explain that later too, promise."

Sam huffed and leaned back in her seat, with crossed arms.

Valerie watched Danny whisper to Sam from across the room. He looked miserable, slumping in his chair.

'Why's he so down all the time? The dessert was bad, but… first it was the macaroni, then the desert, and he didn't touch either one! …Granted, they _were_ probably diseased…' she leaned on her elbow, averting her gaze from Lancer's lecture to watch Danny, 'What _is_ he always running off to do? I gotta say, him and his friends are terrible actors….' Danny suddenly noticed her watching him and he turned away quickly. Valerie smiled mischievously, 'I'll find your secret Fenton. Just you wait….'

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"So, spill it Danny! Why were Dash's pals making tea party plans with you and Danny Phantom?" Sam demanded.

After school, Tucker and Sam had dragged Danny to the park for an explanation. Danny stood with his back against a tree in a clearing, cornered by the two of them.

"Sam, I promised I'd never turn make another shallow popularity maneuver, and I meant it! I'm not ditching you guys for anyone again, I swear!"

"Is that so?" Tucker inquired smoothly, "Then why was Dash seeing double before lunch?"

"Uhhh… well, he tried to beat me up, and I thought, 'Why not?'" Danny laughed nervously.

"'Why not?' You thought 'Why not?' Do you realize that the whole school thinks you're 'friends' with Danny Phantom, right?" Sam said cynically.

"Hey, it was my dupes fault!"

"Your dupe being a copy of you," Tucker stated.

"Aw crud," Danny slumped, "Look you guys, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that, it just slipped! I panicked! Do you really think I'd do it on purpose?"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. After all they'd been through, they really did know inside that Danny knew better than to do that to them again, but it was in their nature to be protective of him like that.

"I didn't think so," Danny smiled, "So are we cool?"

"I guess… but you're going to have to be careful around school from now on. From what I overheard, Paullina is going to be your bait, and knowing you…" Sam mumbled, looking away.

"I will. I've dealt with enough of her games to know when she's playing at something."

"Alright, that's all taken care of," Tucker said, trying to change the subject for Sam's sake, "What happened on your little ghost outing?"

"Oh man, you guys are _not_ gonna believe it!"

Danny began to tell them all about his meeting with Box Ghost, making sure to emphasize on the fact that there was a new hunter in town. They were shocked.

"Whoa, so you've got a new healing power? Sweet!" Tucker exclaimed.

"No Tucker, he used his ghost ray to destroy the flesh that couldn't heal!" Sam sighed, "He's still stuck with pure brute destruction powers."

"…WERE YOU GUYS EVEN LISTENING?" Danny shouted, "Someone's out to _kill_ ghosts! And I just happen to fall into that category!"

"Oh yeah…." Tucker said bashfully.

"Well the obvious solution would be to take it easy on going ghost for a while. If he's out for ghosts, then maybe that means your job will be easier," Sam said passively.

"Sam, are you crazy?" Danny demanded, "I can't let this slide, I've got to do something about it!"

"What?" both friends said at once.

"I'm fine with my parents chasing Box Ghost and Valerie trading lasers with Skulker, but this guy is out to kill! As in, end the existence of said hunted being! It's not me I'm worried about, it's the other ghosts!"

The two stared at Danny silently for a long time, "Um… since when do you care about the guys that are always trying to kill _you_?" Tucker crossed his arms.

"Yeah, and they're just ghosts. They're already dead, so what's there to worry about? _Can_ they even die?"

Danny looked back and forth between his friends, unable to believe what he was hearing, "I can't believe you two!"

Instantly, two rings rose around him transforming him into Danny Phantom, and he shot off into the sky, leaving sight within seconds.

"Danny, wait! What did I…" Sam was left there, mouth gaping after the Phantom fleeing from her, "What did I say?…"

As Tucker watched Danny go, he suddenly flinched as a concept dawned on him, "Sam, what if he… Danny probably… uh…." he couldn't quite make the words.

"What?" she turned to Tucker desperately.

"Um… Well, we all think about death from time to time, right? We know it's gonna happen one day and all that, but… Danny knows about the worlds of both the dead and the living. He knows about things that normal humans just aren't supposed to know about, so…" he retreated to fabricate the rest.

"Oh… I never thought of it like that. Danny must think about that stuff a lot," Sam looked off to the sky again, having lost sight of Danny.

"Exactly! But it's not like you and me think about death, but… Sam, he thinks Box Ghost was dying. I never thought about a ghost's death because, well, they're dead. But think about it Sam, what if a ghost _did_ die? A human dies and goes to the Ghost Zone, but where would a ghost go?"

Sam's eyes widened. A ghost's death… how the hell would that work? "And Danny… he…."

"Yeah," Tucker put his hand on her shoulder and joined her in watching the sky, "Danny's dead _and_ alive. Who knows if he'll have a human death or a ghost death. Danny is half ghost, and a ghost is a deceased human. If you think about it… Danny is actually _fused_ with death itself."

"Danny…" a tear glistened on Sam's cheek. She was supposed to be the empathetic one, "We should have thought of this a long time ago Tucker. Danny must have so much on his mind…."

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Danny's eyes were forced to squint as he raced through the sky over the city. He had to get away from them, from everyone.

He saw a tall skyscraper on the south side of the city. The opportunity for solitude beckoned him. He veered off to the roof and touched down, immediately becoming human. The cold wind chilled him to the bone, much worse when not in ghost form. Danny sat at the edge of the roof, the view of his city no less captivating to his human eyes.

Danny Fenton was an average fifteen year old, going to school, currently looking for a job and training for his driver's permit. He had slightly below average grades, good friends, and simple teenage responsibilities. Average in every way possible. He lived in this city.

Danny Phantom was a fifteen year old ghost, fighting other more powerful ghosts than he, fleeing ghost hunters and solving mysteries that would usually destroy the planet or something without him. He had great power, an archenemy named Vlad Plasmius and ridiculous responsibilities. Anything but average. He protected this city.

Danny weighed the two people on each hand. Fenton and Phantom. How could such a normal fourteen year old have been fused with such a strange alter ego? That fateful day nine months ago, he was gifted with great power. With it came a curse of hatred, responsibility, rivalry, secrecy and pain. Knowledge was part of the curse too. He was aware of so many things that humans weren't meant to know of, and at times like this, they tore him apart.

'What am I doing? What is it that I'm fighting for? Everyone that I fight to protect, everyone I serve… they're all going to end up a ghost or just dead too, one day,' Danny watched the cars below him flowing like a river, seeming to never end, 'They all know just where they're going. But where am I supposed to be going? It seems like no one wants my help anyway. My parents want me destroyed, I like Valerie a lot, but she wants me dead too. Even the Ghost Zone either wants me destroyed or in prison….' he looked up and saw five birds he didn't care to identify fly overhead. All he saw when a bird flew by was that it was… free. It was just where it belonged, in the air with other birds, uncaring of it's destination, 'Why can't I do that? Why can't I just do what I want and not care about how it turns out?' he watched the birds absently, wishing he could fly with them… and he could have, but that's not the point….

"Enjoying the view, Daniel?" a smooth, snide voice mocked as the familiar blue trail emerged from Danny's mouth.

Danny didn't know exactly what happened, but he guessed his instinct took over. In an instant, he had leapt into the air, transformed and turned to face the threat, in that order. It was Vlad Plasmius, arms crossed and his fanged smile ever mocking Danny. He floated level with him, Danny in his battle ready air stance.

Vlad's smile faded after seeing Danny's reaction, being replaced with impression, "Oh! Your reflexes have improved, I think. Nicely done Daniel," his snide smile returned.

"It's been a while since you and I fought, creep. You don't know what I can do," Danny bluffed. He had improved, but they both knew he still couldn't lay a hand on Vlad. Not just yet.

"Oh please… I'm not here to fight anyway! I simply came to… check on my young protégé. You haven't forgotten that my decree still stands, that you _and_ your mother will belong to me, have you?"

"No, but I was hoping you had," Danny said under his breath.

"Poor, naïve child. I don't forget easily," Vlad floated to the spot Danny had jumped away from and gazed out over the city, "Tell me, have you ever thought about that destiny? Of what's meant to become of you?"

"I don't believe in destiny. No one changes my life but me, got it?" his fists tightened.

Vlad snickered, "Yes, I suppose that is how you would feel, believing you're invincible and independent. _Teenagers…_ so naïve. You will be in for a rude awakening soon enough," he scanned the city streets, almost absently.

"I don't care about your mind games Vlad! What did you come here for?"

Vlad sighed sadly, turning to Danny, "Fine. There's little point to sugar coat it or mince words, my boy, you're getting to old and smart for that. I'll just come right out and say it: You're in danger. Not from a ghost or some foolish organization like the Guys in White, but from something within yourself."

Danny scoffed, "Vlad, you've got to be kidding. I know where this is going: 'Daniel, I need you to my lab so we can fix the problem with you and- Oh, I'm sorry, this is a trap and you're really just here to test out my new cloning machine.' Please…" he growled with crossed arms firmly.

Vlad shook his head, "Stop and listen boy, I've had these powers for twenty years if you recall. There are things I know that you couldn't _possibly_ know about the ghost half, things that need to be handled with great care. This is no trick Daniel!"

Danny felt no different than he had the day before or the day before, the week before and so on. But even he knew that there would probably be things that came with the ghost half that he wouldn't expect. Random discoveries of new powers were one example, but for all he knew his ghost half would have to undergo some kind of ghostly puberty. Despite this, he knew better to EVER accept help from Vlad, not so much for pride, but even if he planned on helping Danny, he would only do it if it involved some kind of gain for him.

"Whatever it is, I'll deal with it. I don't care what you have to say about it, there's no way I'm taking help from _you._"

Vlad sighed again, "Yes, I thought you'd say that… Ah well. I suppose there's little that a non-parental figure can do to wear down teenage pride… Be that as it may, I leave you with this," Vlad began to rise away from Danny, above the skyscraper and over the city, "If your problems get out of hand, you know where my castle is. I'll welcome you with open arms," he sarcastically waved to the fuming ghost boy, "Ta!"

Danny outstretched his hand to Vlad, "Wait! What do you know about the new ghost hunter?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow, "What new ghost hunter? You mean you've found one besides your parents and Valerie?"

"Apparently. I found Box Ghost bleeding to death in a warehouse and he told me a new hunter, one that we don't know about, nearly destroyed him."

"Bleeding to death? Is the buffoon alright?" Vlad looked truly concerned for a change, his expression still tainted with an evil contort.

"I fixed him, but if I had gotten there much later…. He had blood and skin taken from his arm, his energy was drained, and he had three holes through him that I guess came from some kind of makeshift beam weapon."

"Through him? They didn't heal? It doesn't take much energy to heal…." Vlad rubbed his chin ponderously.

"The wounds were burnt. The energy was unstable, I think, and he didn't have enough energy to heal through the burns. Sounds more like a crazy ghost scientist, but Box Ghost said he was a hunter."

Vlad's eyes widened hearing that, "It was that crude? ……I wonder…."

Danny was listening intently and didn't miss it as intended, "Wonder what? What do you know?"

Vlad glared daggers at the boy, "I know nothing of this! But thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to have my Vultures look into the matter. Well, I should be off. Take care, my boy! No use to me dead, are you now?" Vlad sneered his goodbye and disappeared in a swirling cloud of red energy.

Danny looked around cautiously, and when satisfied that he was alone, collapsed to the cement of the roof in relief. Be it an ice age in hell that he want to fight him with his skills what they were… when nothing was on the line, of course. Had he done something insidious, like kidnapping Sam and Tucker, then….

Danny flinched, 'Sam and Tuck! They're alone!'

He would have normally took a little time to reflect on what Vlad had said, maybe find a clue to anything he was planning, but there were priorities to think of, like the safety of his friends. The young half ghost shot into the air and blasted off toward the spot he left them in, unbeknownst to him, leaving a green energy trail in his wake.

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**Weeeeeeeeell? Was it descent? I hope so… cuz I'm really not sure about this one. I liked the first one more… These chapters are just development chapters. The story has just barely started, so I want to know I'm not wasting everyone's time… SO REVIEW RIGHT NOW OR I'LL… I'LL! ……… cry… sniff**

**Thanks for getting this far with my story, I look forward to your responses!**


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